After the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-101 on Saturday, ending their eight-game win streak, ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe doubled down on his playoff take. Lakers All-Star LeBron James suffered a groin injury in the loss, but that hasn’t discouraged Sharpe from picking Los Angeles to win the Western Conference.
Sharpe told his co-host Stephen A. Smith that the Lakers are still his favorite, per ESPN’s First Take.
“You could say SGA, PGA, USA; Lakers in five,” Sharpe said.
After watching the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 127-103, Smith retorted that they could be in trouble if the Lakers were to slip from second place and out of the top 3 in the Western Conference standings. Smith believes having James ruled out for one to two weeks could be best for Lakers’ Luka Doncic.
“I think this could actually work to Luka’s advantage because obviously you’re going to be out there more, you’re going to be active,” Smith said. “Get your game back. He’s been coming on strong. He was a little hobbled himself Saturday night. It’s going to be interesting to see whether or not he’s going to be able to hold up physically if he can. And he gets his groove on because obviously repetition is going to help him tremendously.
“I think that can end up helping the Los Angeles Lakers. I don’t think the Lakers are dipping below the third seed,” Smith concluded.
At 40-22, Los Angeles has a slight edge over the Nuggets (41-23), but anything could happen between now and the end of the regular season.
“Lakers better not fall to four or five,” Smith added. “Because if you fall to four or five, you get OKC in the second round, assuming you win your first-round [series]. And then, you go home. And that’s what they got to be worried about. You’ve got to avoid OKC until the conference finals. That’s what this comes down to. Period.”
LeBron James set to miss 1 to 2 weeks for Lakers with groin injury
ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe watched Lakers All-Star LeBron James’ injury force him to miss the end of the Lakers’ 10-point loss to the Celtics. James will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
“Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is expected to miss at least 1-to-2 weeks with a groin strain, sources tell ESPN. James will wait for the groin injury to calm down over the next 24 hours and receive another evaluation,” Charania reported.
The Lakers will face the Nets on Monday.
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