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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Each week, we send out questions to the most plugged in Lakers fans, and fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts.
The Lakers won their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers fairly handily, finishing up a tidy, five-game gentlemen’s sweep against what some had pegged as one of the best eighth seeds ever last week.
But while the Lakers were clearly good and regained some of their mojo after a rough shooting night in Game 1, NBA fans still felt like there were at least two teams that looked better. Our latest SB Nation Reacts poll captured the sentiment around those observing the NBA.
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As good as the Lakers were against Portland, it’s hard to argue with this. The Celtics beat the 76ers so bad that they fired their coach and may blow up their roster, and the Heat finished up an impressive destruction of the Pacers and currently have a 2-0 lead in the second round against the Milwaukee Bucks. Those are performances worthy of plaudits, and while most of our fine readers at this site would probably still take the Lakers over either of those teams, they are at the very least deserving of some recognition based on how good they’ve looked in the playoffs so far.
Plus, we can’t have too many people believing in our beloved purple and gold underdogs. That would take away some of the magic of this plucky run for this overachieving, mom-and-pop shop from Los Angeles. #WeBelieve.
To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.