LeBron James isn’t fazed by lack of homecourt advantage- “If I come into your building for a Game 1, it can be very challenging"

The LA Lakers are one of the most interesting teams when looking across the NBA Playoffs.

To some, they are the trendy title pick that are peaking at the right time and ready to capitalize on a wide-open Western Conference. To others, they are a flawed team being carried by LeBron James and Anthony Davis and are lucky to have made it out of the play-in tournament.

Unsurprisingly, LeBron James sits in the camp of believing in his team and has brushed off the importance of having home-court advantage. LA (43-29) enters the playoffs as the seventh seed and will face off against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Lakers will not have home-court advantage, but this is not a concern for the team.

"If I come into your building for a Game 1, it can be very challenging," LeBron James told ESPN.

Anthony Davis echoed this message:

"I don't think seeding doesn't matter. Once you get in, it's all about matchups and things like that. We don't look at ourselves as underdogs, obviously."

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"I wouldn't mind playing LeBron [James] in a 7-game series. The legacy is there. First time back in the playoffs, knock him out right away. It'll test us good. They got good pieces, good players. That'll be a good 1st-round matchup for us."

—Dillon Brooks

2020

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"I wouldn't mind playing LeBron [James] in a 7-game series. The legacy is there. First time back in the playoffs, knock him out right away. It'll test us good. They got good pieces, good players. That'll be a good 1st-round matchup for us."

—Dillon Brooks
https://t.co/38Nim1kYPp

Lakers Playoff Outlook

While the Lakers cannot be counted out, their Round 1 matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies will be no easy task. The Grizzlies are considered the -140 favorites to win the series, with the Lakers having +120 odds. The opening matchup, which will be played in Memphis, favors the Grizzlies by 4 points.

The Lakers still deserve a ton of credit for turning their season around at the mid-way point. After going just 27-32 before the All-Star break, the Lakers elected to make some significant changes to their roster. They traded away Russell Westbrook and made a number of other significant moves to build a more cohesive roster.

Players like Jarred Vanderbilt, D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Malik Beasley have provided the team with better complementary pieces. The Lakers had the best record in the NBA after the All-Star break and enter the playoffs with a head of steam.

With LeBron James and Anthony Davis still playing at a high level and having won a championship together in 2020, they cannot be counted out.

However, the Grizzlies will not be a pushover and if Ja Morant had not gotten injured last year, they would have had a real chance of taking down the Warriors. Expect this to be one of the most thrilling first-round matchups of the NBA Playoffs. The opening game will tip off at 3 p.m. EDT, where we will get a first look at how the two teams stack up.

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