Before the NBA bubble set up in Orlando, analysts predicted that this campaign is one of the most competitive seasons in the league as multiple teams are tipped to have a good shot at winning the championship. For LeBron James, that perception remains true and he admitted that it will be a tough road ahead for the Lakers.
The Lakers will enter the playoffs as the top-seed in the Western Conference but James knew it will not be an easy cruise for his crew. The competition is strong and more so because of the unique bubble setup. His team picked up more losses than wins in the season restart and the environment could be partly to blame.
In reality though, both the setting and the mindset of the players will play big on how things will turn out and the NBA superstar is fully aware that it will not be smooth as the playoff series progresses.
"It's probably going to be one of - probably the toughest one ... It's the toughest championship run for me personally, from the circumstances of just being in here," Fadeaway World reported the King as saying, picking from the story first published by the Los Angeles Times.
There are signs in the past games that James and his teammates are still adjusting to the Disney World games. And even if they finally get the hang of the prevailing situation, the games ahead will only get tougher.
The same report plotted the path that James and company will take to win the crown and the Lakers' first assignment alone will be hard to hurdle. Purple & Gold will clash with the Portland Trail Blazers that will star Damian Lillard, declared recently as the best player in the bubble, and a whole bunch of capable supporters such as Carmelo Anthony and CJ McCollum.
If James and his crew will survive this phase, the next foe will either be the Rockets or the Thunder, then on to the next round where the Clippers are possibly waiting. This line of hurdles will mean that the Lakers will need to win against squads that are headlined by the likes of James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George.
Should the Lakers successfully clear all these obstacles, the NBA Finals will only get more difficult. James' team will likely face off with the Bucks or the Raptors. The former has Giannis Antetokounmpo on their side while the latter boast of the core crew that won the NBA title last season.
So the job-to-do waiting for James and the rest of the Lakers can be best described as bone-crunching. Winning seemed an impossible task but Clutch Points reminded of the one time that the four-time MVP practically pulled off a miracle in the 2016 Finals.
James' Cleveland Cavaliers had to erase the 3-1 series advantage erected by the Golden State Warriors. To win, the Cavs needed to win the last three games and with James leading the way, they did.
Once, James had achieved the impossible with Cleveland and the possibility is there he can do it again with Los Angeles.
