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Coming off of a thrilling win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers can’t look past their next opponent. A road contest against the Golden State Warriors, whom the Lakers are undefeated against in their last two regular season contests, is the a proverbial trap game for the young team.
It would be hard to blame Los Angeles for overlooking an opponent they’ve had so much recent success against. In addition to winning their last two regular season games against the Dubs by 37 points, the Lakers boast a 251-158 all-time record against the Warriors and clearly know what it takes to beat them historically.
The Lakers have also made Stephen Curry prove Charles Barkley’s point that jump shots don’t win championships. The two-time reigning MVP and first unanimous MVP to blow a 3-1 lead in the Finals has made just one of his last 20 three-point attempts against Los Angeles, a success rate that makes Josh Smith look like Kyle Korver.
Fellow Splat Brother Klay Thompson hasn’t been much better, only converting two of his last 18 triples against the Lakers as he struggles through the nerves that come with playing in front of his father, Lakers radio broadcaster Mychal Thompson.
Combine all of that with Luke Walton clearly being the brains behind the Warriors’ run last year and understanding how to shut down his old roster, and the Lakers have the recipe for what should be an easy victory, as long as they don’t sleep on such an easy opponent.
The preceding is obviously parody, and the Warriors are obviously a very good team that the Lakers will need a lot to go right in order to beat. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.