Dwight Howard Thinks The Lakers Will Play The Toronto Raptors In The Finals
In a brief appearance on Toronto Raptors Oshae Brissett's vlog from inside the NBA bubble, Dwight Howard made his Finals prediction.
"It's going to be Toronto and the Lakers in The Finals," Howard said.
The Lakers lost to the Raptors in their second game of the resumed NBA season at Walt Disney World near Orlando on Saturday, 107-92. They had their worst shooting performance of the season, making only 35.4 percent of their field goal attempts and 25 percent of their three-point shots.
The Raptors won the 2019 NBA championship, but after Kawhi Leonard left for the Clippers, the team has widely been left out of the title contender conversation.
LeBron James thinks that's a mistake.
"That’s a great team," James said Saturday. "No ifs, ands or buts. Exceptionally well coached and championship DNA. You can never take that away from a ball club if you win a championship. And even before that, they just got playoff-tested guys. Guys that played not only here in the NBA in big games, but also in FIBA games as well. Marc [Gasol] has been in big games throughout his whole life pretty much, it seems like.
"So, that’s just a great team and the media may not talk about them much or give them much credit because Kawhi is gone, but players in the league definitely know what type of team they are."
The Lakers (51-15) clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the first time since 2010 in their 116-108 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday. They play the Oklahoma City Thunder in their fourth of eight seeding games today at 3:30 p.m. PST.
The Raptors are in second place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 48-18, five games behind the first-place Milwaukee Bucks.
The Lakers are competing for their first championship since 2010, when Kobe Bryant led the team to his fifth and final title.
