The Boston Celtics proved themselves last season. After years of falling short, they finally clawed their way to glory, winning Banner 18. This year, there looks to be significantly more competition standing in their way. From the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Oklahoma City Thunder, everyone wants to take down the champs. And the Los Angeles Lakers want to be in that conversation, too.
LA was in town on Saturday night for one of the most hyped-up regular-season matchups of the season. The Luka Doncic, LeBron James Lakers’ first time squaring off against the Celtics. The entire NBA world was watching.
In the end, the Celtics got the win, with an Al Horford defensive master class leading the way. Doncic and James targeted him relentlessly, but it didn’t work.
After the game, James spoke about where he believes the Lakers stand in the NBA’s upper echelon of teams, noting that while they may not be on the same level as the Celtics quite yet, he wants to get there.
“We can compete versus anyone in this league. So we’ll be fine,” James said via Dan Woike of the LA Times. “We got to continue to build our habits. We’re not where they are, the defending champion. And they’ve been playing basketball together for a long time. And they got a great chemistry and know what they want to do.
“We made an acquisition late in the season, and we’re still trying to build. And we want to get full. That’s the number one objective for us, how we can get full and get all our guys together and see exactly what we look like. So we feel like we can compete versus anybody.”
To James’ credit, his point about building chemistry rings true. Boston managed to win a title in their first year with two new All-Stars in the mix, but they were more of an exception than the rule.
Adding new pieces to a core is never easy, especially when the piece is as ball-dominant as Doncic. For as talented as Doncic is, the Lakers have to adjust everything they do on both ends of the floor to cater to him.
Despite that, the Lakers were one of the hottest teams in the league prior to losing to the Celtics. They had won eight games in a row and now look like a serious threat heading into the playoffs. Wanting to have as much chemistry as Boston does is a great goal.
The question is, can they compete with the likes of the Celtics, Cavs, and Thunder?
