Los Angeles Lakers: Advantages Lakers have over Clippers in playoffs

2. The Los Angeles Lakers have much more time together

One of the biggest narratives around the Los Angeles Clippers is that the team has never really been at full strength this season and that is why they are the third-seed in the West. That is fair, if the Clippers had their entire roster for every single game then they would probably have a much better record.

However, we cannot simply play the ‘what-if’s and we have to go with the results that we are seeing. The Clippers, with a mixture of injuries and Kawhi Leonard‘s load management, have not gotten the kind of reps together that a title-contending team should get.

In fact, as we covered in a separate article, the past six title-winning teams all had at least one eight-game winning streak. The Clippers have not and have a worse first-half record than all the other teams, showing their lack of rhythm this year.

The Lakers have dealt with the complete opposite. There have been a few minor things here and there but for the most part, this is a team that is on the court with each other every single night and is figuring out some of the headaches that come with being a playoff team in the regular season, instead of the playoffs.

Could the Lakers get hurt before the playoffs to even this? Absolutely, just because they have not yet does not mean it is impossible. However, we can definitely bet on the Clippers having better odds of getting hurt and disrupting the on-court chemistry even more.

This is especially important with the two new additions in Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson. Both guys are talented but both are not afraid to be ball-stoppers. We are splitting hairs when we have two elite teams playing in a series and these minute things can make a difference.

Just look at the way that Anthony Davis and LeBron James feed off each other and compare that to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. James and Davis have the talent advantage and they have the familiarity advantage as well.