Should Lakers Try to Avoid Playing Denver in First-Round?

The Los Angeles Lakers clinched the 8th seed with their win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday afternoon. They dominated New Orleans in the most important game of the year and will now hold a rematch against the Pelicans on Tuesday night in the Play-In game.

If Los Angeles were to defeat New Orleans on Tuesday, they would be setting themselves up for another rematch. They would be taking on the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the NBA playoffs, a rematch of the Western Conference Finals from a year ago.

If the Lakers were to lose to the Pelicans, they would then head home to host a win-or-go-home game against the winner of the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors Play-In matchup. The winner of that game would take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.

Oklahoma City is a much more favorable matchup for Los Angeles over Denver but the Lakers shouldn't try to avoid the Nuggets. They need to put all their effort into taking down the Pelicans on Tuesday to secure a spot in the postseason. It's playoff time, there is no ducking anyone.

The road to winning another championship always was going to go through the Nuggets. But it's better for the Lakers to see them early on in the postseason rather than later.

There is no guarantee that the Lakers could take down Sacramento or the Warriors in the second Play-In game anyway. Los Angeles was swept by the Kings in the regular season and went 1-3 against the Warriors head-to-head.

While a matchup with the Nuggets seems daunting, Los Angeles first needs to reach the official bracket. The hope is that they can avoid playing a second Play-In game, just to make the postseason. The Lakers can't worry about Denver until they see them on their schedule and it all starts Tuesday against New Orleans.