The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors go head-to-head in the postseason for the first time since 1991 when they open a second-round playoff series Tuesday night in San Francisco.
Tip-off is set for 10:00 p.m. ET at Chase Center where the Warriors are listed as -4.5 point favorites at BetOnline. The total is 228.
These are arguably the two premier franchises in the NBA. The Lakers and Warriors have combined for seven of the past eight Western Conference championships and five of the last eight NBA titles.
Los Angeles Lakers (48-41, #7 seed)
The Lakers, who took the season series 3-1, beat the Warriors to the second round by needing just six games to knock off the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. That series ended Friday in a 125-85 Lakers rout, with D’Angelo Russell pouring in 31 points:
Laker(4-2) 125
Grizzlies(2-4) 85
Ice in his veins
De'Angelo Russell come up huge to lead the Lakers to Round 2
31pts 5-9n 3PM pic.twitter.com/X8J9KVc5Jh— miguel bonilla (@miguelb42621839) April 29, 2023
Meanwhile LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 38 points and 19 rebounds:
Steve Kerr is 19-0 in playoff series vs western conference teams
Warriors are the defending Champs.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis haven’t lost a healthy series together (5-0)
🍿🍿🍿 pic.twitter.com/9gSXf2LGuC
— The Laker Files (@LakerFiles) May 1, 2023
Golden State Warriors (48-41, 6th seed)
The Lakers have enjoyed three days off since its clinching win, while the Warriors are being rushed right back into action after securing their spot with a 120-100 road win over the Sacramento Kings in Game 7. Steph Curry set an NBA record for a Game 7 with 50 points:
STEPH CURRY'S 50-POINT GAME 7.
EVERY SINGLE POINT.#PLAYOFFMODEHe'll be back in action on Tuesday night 🍿
LAL/GSW Game 1: 10 PM ET on TNT pic.twitter.com/RwmH97S7O5
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2023
LeBron vs. Steph
Maybe the Lakers and Warriors haven’t met in the postseason in 32 years, but James and Curry have quite the recent history. They’ve gone head-to-head 22 times in the playoffs, all over the course of four consecutive meetings between the Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals from 2015-18.
Curry earned championship rings on three of the four occasions, all while losing the personal scoring duel to James, who put up 33 points per game in those matchups, while Curry went for 25.4.
LeBron's numbers vs. Steph's head-to-head
LeBron James:
28.8 PPG / 9.0 RPG / 6.3 APG / 51.2 FG% / 36.1 3P%Stephen Curry:
22.3 PPG / 4.2 RPG / 6.5 APG / 45.5 FG% / 39.1 3P% pic.twitter.com/mnjs6tIB5l— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) April 30, 2023
Bottom Line
It might be the six and seven seeds, but it’s got the potential to be a classic series.
Stephen Curry against LeBron James (again), James a four-time champion after winning titles with Miami, Cleveland and the Lakers; Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala have won four rings with the Warriors in the last eight seasons.
The Lakers are much improved from the team that starteo much better than they were two months ago. But the Warriors showed vs. Sacramento that they still have their championship fire. Expect nothing less than a classic.
This is the definition of must see TV.
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