Water has flowed under the bridge since the loss of the Lakers (4-0) in the conference final against Denver. But even though they don’t have it on their heads, the Californians always have their “sweep” across their throats. After gently teasing each other over the summer, the two camps are preparing their reunion for a historic evening.
On October 24, for Opening Night marked by the unveiling of the champion banner and the ring ceremony, the Nuggets will host the Lakers for an expected first shock. Especially on the “Purple & Gold” side, where we intend to feed off this setback and the trashtalking sessions that followed, initiated by Mike Malone in particular, to prevail and thus spoil the party.
Asked about the subject, Austin Reaves confirmed that the players had checked this date on their calendar.
“We see things… Personally, I try my best to stay off social media and not look at all these things. I play every match the same but I think that adds a bit of motivation. That’s all “, explained the rear. “I was happy to see Denver for the first game. It’s a big night for them, as it should be. We take our hats off to them. They had an incredible series against us and then won in the final against Miami. We can only bow. But we have an opportunity to get a victory in the first match of the season. Obviously, we won’t ruin their day, but it would allow us to start our season in a good way.”
Have the Lakers learned their lesson?
In addition to being defeated, the Lakers have had the entire offseason to rethink what went wrong, or rather what allowed Denver to win in four rounds, each time with impressive mastery to finish matches. For Austin Reaves, the cohesion and stability of the squad have a lot to do with it.
“I’ve actually been thinking a lot about this show because everyone’s been talking about it. What could we have done to at least win a match? No one was happy about being swept. It’s obvious we weren’t happy. I thought about it a lot. I just think the fact that they were together for a whole year really showed in the final stretch against us, especially in the last quarters.”
The leaders of the franchise may have come to the same conclusion and did what was necessary to preserve their hard core and not turn everything upside down. This is how the “free agents” Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura were extended at the beginning of the summer, then Anthony Davis and Jarred Vanderbilt, already under contract.
Silencing the Nuggets
“Having these players come back helps us. They work with us to communicate what we’re trying to do on both sides of the floor, and that speeds up the process.”recognized the coach, Darvin Ham.
Even if we still have to wait three weeks before the regular season resumes, the Lakers are moving forward faster and with a big source of motivation, that of knocking down the reigning champion from the start.
“It’s very motivating”confirmed AD. “It’s just that there have been a lot of statements, things around the Lakers. So we were like, ‘OK, we get it, you win.’ But with LeBron, we talked about it, and we said to ourselves that we couldn’t wait to play them again (…). Every time you lose in the playoffs, it generates motivation to come back next season and try to fight for the title.” That alone is motivating. But also the little phrases that have been running throughout the summer… We are ready.”
