It's the matchup that will split the Filipino hoops fanbase in half. The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers are finally facing off in the playoffs. The team all your titos root for going against the millennial Pinoy's darling. Any time LeBron James and Steph Curry face off, it's going to be a global event.
Most compelling storyline
This might very well be the last time we see two legends face off. We’ve been waiting for LeBron to fall off for the better part of the last decade but somehow, he’s still going at age 38. He’s still been elite but the King has had more mortal moments this season than in the past.
Steph Curry is 35 years old, and some would say he looks the same now as he did when he won back-to-back MVPs in 2015 and 2016. The shot-making is still phenomenal, as evidenced in his 50-point masterpiece in Game 7 against the Sacramento Kings.
It's tough to imagine an NBA with neither star being relevant but we’re getting closer to that. And if age won’t slow them down, roster construction will. Recent changes in the CBA are going to make it hard for the Golden State Warriors to keep all their stars. Draymond Green has a player option in his contract for next season. Klay Thompson is turning 33 and will have his contract at the end of the 2024 season. The Warriors just inked Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins to $100 million deals. Who knows how the Warriors are going to deal with the future?
With the Lakers, who can really say where they’re at roster-wise? James and Anthony Davis are signed up till the end of the 2024-2025 season but the pieces around them aren’t. They saved themselves from the Russell Westbrook dilemma with some deft moves at the trade deadline, but will the Lakers be able to keep all their young assets?
The last time LeBron James and Steph Curry met in the playoffs was in the 2018 NBA Finals. A lot has changed in the five years in between and it looked like this matchup was never going to happen again with how both teams have performed over the past years. The Warriors limped into the playoffs and dueled a young Sacramento Kings team in seven games. The Lakers needed to go through the play-in and ground out a tough series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Appreciate every moment of this matchup that continues to define an era.
X-factors
Who’s stopping Steph Curry? The Lakers can cause some matchup problems themselves but they do not have an immediate and clear answer to even slowing down Curry. Jarred Vanderbilt will most likely court this matchup for most of the series, especially in clutch situations.
Vanderbilt drew the Ja Morant assignment for most of the Grizzlies series and he did well, holding Morant to around 40 percent shooting in possessions where he finished as the primary defender. Morant, though, was playing through a right hand injury.
Curry also presents many off-ball problems that have been talked about ad nauseam. Shutting down that gravity is going to be key for the Lakers. Vanderbilt has the size to bother Curry but will he have the focus and stamina to stay on him through all those screens?
Winning blueprint
The Warriors survived against the Kings’ fast-paced offense by just hanging tough and trusting their defense. As the series wore on, the Warriors were able to take Domantas Sabonis out of the Kings’ offense and put a ton of pressure on De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk to create shots. That’s probably going to be the gameplan against Anthony Davis, who shot just 49 percent against the Grizzlies’ short-handed frontline.
Looking at both teams at the peak of their powers, it feels like a lot more has to go right for the Lakers to win games in this series. They were the fourth-best defense in the league post All-Star break with a 112.8 rating. But this Warriors team is going to come at them at angles that they might not have the personnel to respond to.
The Warriors will have to scheme against LeBron James and Anthony Davis. When healthy, no team has been able to consistently stop this duo. Golden State will probably have to live with Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and D’Angelo Russell—three guys who were awesome against Memphis—taking open 3s. Is it asking too much of them already to be great for another series against the defending champs?
The Lakers are going to want to slow the pace down. The Warriors are going to live in transition. Whoever dictates the pace will win this series.
