A 2-10 start is ancient history; the Los Angeles Lakers are in the Western Conference finals after defeating the reigning champion Golden State Warriors to take a huge leap towards NBA g lory.
LeBron James and Antony Davis continued their supreme form on Friday with big nights in a crucial Game Six on home court to prevent the stress of an all-or-nothing decider on the road.
The Lakers are just four wins from a place in the NBA finals, something the majority of fans would have thought impossible after a woeful beginning to the campaign that exposed a paper-thin roster being held up by a couple of star talents in James and Davis – who had their own problems with injury to contend with.
It has been a remarkable journey, becoming the first seven-seed to reach the conference finals since the 1987 Seattle Supersonics, but how did the Lakers get here? It is a tale of masterful roster management, big players coming up clutch and building a wave of momentum that looks increasingly hard to stop.
Roster Reboot
Going into the trade deadline on February 9, the work the Lakers' front office needed to do was obvious. They had battled hard with a flawed roster to cling onto the coattails of the playoff picture, but they were below .500 with a top-heavy group that did not have the depth required to finish in the top 10 in the West.
Big-time trades had been the source of speculation for weeks and months beforehand, but business was minimal going into February and the question was could they get all the business done to transform the roster in a matter of a few hours as the deadline loomed?
Yes they could, it turned out. Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn were among six players shipped out, enabling the arrival of six fresh faces including D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt.
In Russell, the Lakers had a point guard to run the offence more efficiently than Westbrook ever could and Hachimura brought a presence at both ends of the floor. Vanderbilt has added defensive depth, averaging one block in his 17 minutes per game so far in the postseason.
James could not conceal his delight after the Lakers – who were 26-32 at the time – sealed the deals.
"I think our skill sets all kind of fit each other," he told ESPN. "I feel really good about what we have brewing, but it's going to take a lot of commitment from us going down the stretch so I'm looking forward to that.
"I like the guys that we have coming in. I mean, it's going to take some time for us to get to know one another, but I know that they play the game at a high level.
But the Lakers needed more than just extra bodies in the building; they needed their role players to step up and reduce the reliance on their key players. The response was resounding.
"I'm him," Austin Reaves cried on the court during a breakout performance in the first-round demolition of the Memphis Grizzlies last month. It was a huge night for an undrafted talent who has been transformed from a rotational player to a key member of the starting lineup, with the reboot of the Lakers' roster including the development of talent internally as well as shrewd additions.
From averaging seven points per game in November, the shooting guard was going for 17 a night in the final month of the regular season and he has continued his upturn in production into the playoffs, plundering 21, 15 and 23 points in the final three games of the conference semi-finals triumph over the Lakers.
Reaves is not the only man who has risen to the challenge. Dennis Schroder and Lonnie Walker IV have played significant parts down the stretch, including 15 and 13-point performances from the latter off the bench in the series win over the Warriors.
Dynamic Duo
Without the much-needed late changes to the roster, the Lakers would not have made it this far, but their leading lights have been two of the NBA's biggest stars in James and Davis, who have been in immense form when their team has really needed them.
As individuals, James is among the best to ever grace a basketball court and is still hugely productive with his 39th birthday approaching, while Davis has been a perennial All-Star since being drafted first overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.
But it is when deployed in tandem that they are at their very best. According to the Associated Press, in the regular season and the play-offs, they are 95-49 when playing together, and they have lost just one of their seven postseason series – the 2021 first-round defeat to the Phoenix Suns when Davis was hurt.
Davis is contributing 21 points and 14 rebounds per game in the postseason and James is delivering 23 and 10 per night. Those averages are impressive over the course of the 12 playoff games so far, but they also underplay each man's value to the team.
With James in the twilight of his career and Davis rarely off the injury report, they have picked their moments wisely to play at full tilt, with head coach Darvin Ham wisely managing their minutes to ensure they can both deliver in the clutch.
The deals at the deadline sparked the Lakers' revival, but their surge from seven seed to conference finalists has been fuelled by star power, and as long as James and Davis remain on the floor, they will be very tough to beat.
"I felt like if we ever had an opportunity to upgrade our roster and put some more balance around myself and AD, I felt like we could make a run," James told ESPN after Friday's triumph, reflecting on the Lakers' woeful start to the season.
Slow start, fast finish
With 82 games to navigate before the real business gets underway, few leagues place such an importance on peaking at the right time like the NBA, and although it is not how the Lakers drew it up, they have played their best basketball in the games that really matter.
At 2-10 with a barely recognisable roster that included Westbrook and Beverley in prominent roles and James nursing injuries, it was not a stretch to say the Lakers' playoff hopes were already dead. Beat reporters, columnists had given up hope that the team could respond and TV talking heads pondered whether James' stint with the team was approaching an unsatisfying end.
But they won eight of their next 10 to get back into playoff contention, with Davis taking on the torch as the team's most important player from James, dominating at both ends of the floor.
Yet the Purple and Gold were on the outside looking in at the playoff picture around the midway point of the season, with a foot injury for Davis threatening to derail their hopes of making the postseason.
The 30-year-old was missing for much of December and almost all of January, and his absence prompted a four-game losing streak that left the rest of the season looking bleak for the Lakers. However James to lead a rally, showing vintage form in a five-game winning streak to start 2023 on the front foot and stay in touch with the playoff shakeup as they waited for Davis' return.
With Davis back in the lineup at the start of February, the next step for the Lakers was to address the glaring holes in the roster. A double move for Indiana Pacers duo Buddy Hield and Myles Turner for a haul of picks was mooted for weeks, but the needs were much greater than two men.
So instead, the underperforming Westbrook and Beverley were among the crew to be shown the door and a slew of new arrivals – led by Russell and Hachimura – gave James and Davis the platform they required to decide games.
On March 18, they were a game back from the final play-in place in 10th, but they delivered their best run of the regular season when it mattered most, winning nine of the final 11 games to finish as the seventh seed at 43-39.
Getting past the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in game proved to be no easy task, but a 30-point outing from James propelled them to an overtime win to book a first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies, a talented yet raw team led by Ja Morant.
From the outset, the Lakers felt in control with their experience proving invaluable, boosted by the impressive displays of Reaves and Russell in the starting five, and they romped into the Western semis with a thumping 125-85 drubbing in game six.
Steph Curry and the reigning champion Warriors were an altogether different beast, with an impressive jewellery collection built over a decade of sustained success in the Bay Area.
But the Lakers were now in the groove and, save for an off night in Game Two, they had the measure of Steve Kerr's team and a narrow Game Four victory to lead 3-1 proved to be the decisive moment in the series. They could afford to be beaten on the road in Game Five knowing they would be back on their home floor. And on Friday, they duly did so.
Leading by 11 at the half, they slammed the door on the Warriors and eased to victory by 21.
"A challenging year to say the least, but at the end of the day, we kept powering through, our vibes stayed positive, once we righted the ship and switched out some pieces, we came together, and I'm just happy and thankful that I get to sit in this seat and enjoy the ride," Ham told ESPN.
Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets await in the conference finals in the Lakers' toughest challenge yet, but with their stars shining brightly and their role players delivering consistently, a fairytale finish to an incredible season remains eminently possible.
