Lakers News: ESPN Experts Think Play-In Rhythm Could Benefit LA

We'll let them explain.

Might your Los Angeles Lakers' falling into the West's seventh seed and thus a play-in matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight actually be more beneficial for the team than resting their aching bones ahead of a playoff series start this weekend?

Former three-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl championship-winning wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson spoke with Max Kellerman for their ESPN LA 710 AM radio show "KJM" about how suiting up for the play-in game, as opposed to resting up ahead of a playoff matchup this weekend, could actually help Los Angeles.

"Would you rather be rested heading into the playoffs -- there's something to be said for that, you get to rest and you've got fresh legs and you're playing against a more worked and therefore tired team -- or would you rather play heading into the playoffs and keep that rhythm going and keep the momentum going heading into the playoffs? Which would you rather do?" Kellerman asked, using perhaps one of the longest run-on sentences in broadcasting history.

"I'd rather actually play," Keyshawn Johnson answered. "I know football's a little different from basketball because of back-to-backs... I get it, but the Lakers have been resting all damn year. So when you think about AD and LeBron, how much rest do they need? They've already rested [due to multiple injuries]. They've been rested! So LeBron James needs to continue to get the rust off, and he knows that, that's why he's [been] playing [down the stretch]. And AD same thing. Going into the playoffs you want momentum, you don't want to go in trying to figure things out... I think that is the key part for the Lakers is to have everything [have] continuity and to have everything rolling so when playoff time rolls around... you go and you [presumably] take care of the Timberwolves, now you get a seven-game series. It's a different conversation now... But at least you are chipping off whatever little bit of rust you had leading into the play-in."

A win for LA would mean the team would move on to face the West's second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies this weekend.

Were the Lakers to lose their game against the Timberwolves tonight, they would then have to beat the winner of the matchup between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder to secure a playoff berth and a first round date with the top-seeded Denver Nuggets, who've looked a bit more vulnerable of late themselves, though they'd certainly still be the heavy favorite to advance.

I would respectfully disagree with Johnson on this point. The Lakers have been banged-up for months, and playing one or perhaps more bonus postseason games would represent a massive exertion of energy. It would be better for the team's best players, future Hall of Famers LeBron James and Anthony Davis, to get more rest time ahead of the playoffs proper.

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