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Lakers Advance...

Saturday, 14^th May, 2016: The NLL Playoffs are well under way, and the first round saw the Lakers come against Pacific Division rival Sacramento Kings.  This is a rivalry which dates back a few seasons.  When greenmig first took over as Lakers gm in the 2010/11 the Kings generally had the Lakers number.  In particular from 2011/12 where the Kings were top of the West featuring a talented group of young players including Paul George, Chris Paul and Kevin Love.  Their bench was also very deep.  That Kings team routed the Lakers 4-0 in the first round of the 2013 playoffs and then again swept the Lakers in the Conference Finals in 2014.  But those were different times, different players and under a different Kings leadership and how times have changed as greenmig vowed to take over the Pacific Division crown from the Kings.  In 2015, on the way to the NLL Title the Lakers downed the Kings 4-1 in the Conference Finals and once again this season the Lakers had the Kings measure – this time 4-2 in the just completed first round.

“The Monster”: In sports rivalries matter, physical play matters too, but what also matters is strategy.  An old man once said, “let sleeping dogs lie”.  The Kings were up 2-0 in the series just gone.  Amid a swirl of media buzz including front page headlines it seemed that many were surprised, interested and even somewhat pleased by the state of play asking, “Reigning champs in a hole?”  None the less the Kings front office who posted a very confident commentary suggesting brooms should be put away.  However, how quickly the tide turned, after a game 3 blowout which saw the Lakers win by 37 points, NLL media suggested that, “someone woke the monster”.

Decoded: From game 3 on, things generally went quiet as the Lakers proceeded to sweep through the next 4 games, with Allstar Gerald Green leading the way with 20.7 ppg as they dismantled the Kings by an average margin of victory of 21 points in games 3-6.  Series over 4-2!  “We knew we were close after game 2 but lost the game in the closing minutes.  But by game 3 we had decoded what they were doing.  We just needed to make a few more changes to lock into their schemes and limit them offensively allowing our guys to get into a rhythm,” said team captain Andre Iguodala.

Rivalry: Lakers management would like to thank the Kings for the series and putting up a fierce fight.  “This is what the playoffs are about.  We respect everyone but we are here to win, not make friends,” said gm greenmig.  The Los Angeles Lakers Franchise would also like to congratulate gm klemmelo and the Kings on what was a great season.  To make the playoffs as a rookie gm is a solid feat.  We have no doubt that the rivalry will continue next season and beyond…

Underdog (again): The Lakers have now advanced to the second round where they will face off against the number 4 seed Oklahoma City Thunder.  It seems that the Thunder have fast become an NLL favourite with gm’s currently rating them as most likely to win the series.  So the Lakers go in as under dogs again, a familiar scenario in recent series, (including last year’s playoffs), a place where they feel most comfortable.

Let the second round begin!