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Lakers News: Pundit Breaks Down LA's Toughest 2023-2024 Season Stretches
As we get closer to the new NBA season, there is a ton of excitement surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers. They are coming off an impressive run to the Western Conference Finals, and now the team has real title hopes for this season.
The schedule dropped recently, adding to the hype around the team. However, it won’t be an easy start again for the Lakers this season. They have a challenging opening week but do have the chance to set the tone for the rest of the year.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic broke down the teams' schedule, including the tougher parts of the year.
“In what has become a tradition, the Lakers have a challenging start to the season. Here are six of their first nine games: at Denver, vs. Phoenix, at Sacramento, vs. the Clippers, at Miami and at Phoenix. (They also play Orlando home and away and at Houston.) It’s imperative for Los Angeles to buck the recent trend of slow starts.”
Last season, LA was playing catch-up all year, and it finally caught up to them in the conference finals. They need to start this season off strong, much like they did in 2020.
"After the new year, the early January stretch of home games against Miami, Memphis (with Morant back from suspension), the Clippers, Toronto and Phoenix is particularly difficult, with the Lakers likely facing four of the league’s 10 best teams."
The stretch in January could really help boost the team or it could sink them in the standings. Hopefully, by then, LA will be hitting their stride and playing some of their best basketball.
Every team has a tough schedule, that's just the name of the NBA nowadays. No one team should be taken for granted and the Lakers have to bring their A-game each time on the floor.
This should be a great season for the purple and gold, but they need to execute their game plan. If they do that, there are only a handful of teams that can match them.
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