Editions
Los 40 USA
Scores
Follow us on
Hello

NBA

Shaq’s prediction if the Lakers are eliminated in the Playoffs

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal believes that there will be sweeping changes across the organisation if the team are eliminated by Denver.

Shaquille O'Neal
ETHAN MILLERAFP

The Los Angeles Lakers have no margin for error after losing the first two games of the series against the Denver Nuggets and are starting an exit from the Playoffs squarely in the face with more than 90 percent of the teams that lose the first two games in a playoff series are ultimately eliminated from the series.

Shaq speaks

The LA side let slip a 20-point lead in the last game and lost the contest in Denver with a buzzer beater from Jamal Murray.

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal believes that if the team fails to advance to the next round there will be big changes affecting the franchise and hinted that Darvin Ham would not continue.

Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets drives against Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers
Full screen
Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets drives against Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers MATTHEW STOCKMANAFP

I don’t like to talk about coaches, but I think that if the Lakers lose, there will be changes and I’m sure of that. That’s how the Lakers operate because they are a historic franchise that is used to winning. They always want to win. Since they won the last championship there have been many ups and downs and that is why there will be changes,” he said in his podcast.

The four-time NBA champion made a lot of emphasis that the Lakers expect nothing less than excellence season after season. The team led by Darvin Ham is repeating the same mistakes of the past playoffs when they were swept aside by the Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.

The Lakers start by winning the games, but they don’t know how to close them and end up losing, as happened in the first two games this season. The series returns to Los Angeles on Thursday and Saturday nights as the 17 time NBA Championship winners look to deliver a shock and ensure that the series returns to Colorado.

LeBron James a doubt for Game 3

The 39-year-old has been listed on the official injury report submitted to the NBA as ‘questionable’ with the Lakers citing his injury as Peroneal Tendinopathy in his left ankle. In normal people speak, that’s inflammation in the tendons that run along your outer ankle bone.