After forty nine seasons of not making the conference finals, the Clippers got the reigning finals MVP in Kawhi Leonard, a two-way all-star in Paul George, last year's sixth man of the year, this year's sixth man of the year, an array of talented role players, a championship coach and a 3-1 lead in the second round. All they had to do was not be the Clippers.
It's hard not to pick on the Clippers, or to pick on Doc Rivers for blowing his third 3-1 lead (no coach has blown more than one) or to laugh about Pandemic P. But this thread isn't about that. It's about the Lakers vs. the Nuggets. The Nuggets barely got past a shorthanded Jazz team, before going down 3-1 to a heavily favored Clippers team and pulling off one of the great upsets in NBA history. And so while I do have the Lakers in 5, I suppose it would be unwise to count out a team who has made so many comebacks these playoffs.
As far as actual analysis goes... I mean Nikola Jokic won't as easy of a time against Anthony Davis as he did against Zubac, and LeBron probably won't let them choke. Lakers would really like to have Avery Bradley but playoff Rondo should probably do as well as Pat Beverley did...