Lakers News: Bill Simmons Believes LA Was Second-Best Team In Playoffs

Bill Simmons has been one of the more respected NBA talk show hosts over the last decade. When he talks, people tend to listen because he is well known and informed on his takes. Simmons, a self proclaimed and unapologetic Boston Celtics fan, rarely compliments the Los Angeles Lakers. So you know when he does make a point to do it, he means business.

On a recent episode of his podcast, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons had some interesting things to say about the state of affairs in the NBA playoffs that we all just witnessed.

"I think the Lakers, now I'm going to anger the zombies. The zombies are going to put this on their white board. I thought the Lakers were the second best team in the league, in the playoffs."

Per The Bill Simmons Podcast

Simmons makes a great point and one that many Laker fans have thought since they were eliminated. Los Angeles held their own against the now champion Denver Nuggets, something that not every team that played Denver did.

Game one saw the Lakers come storm back from a huge deficit and they had chances to win the game but just missed shots. Game two saw the team take a lead into the fourth quarter and had similar elements to game one. They had chances but missed easy shots. Game three, they held a lead midway through the third and then went cold. And game four, they had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but Denver just made a solid defensive play to close it out.

"I don't feel like that series was necessarily a sweep. All those games were good. Like they kind of just out executed them late. That series could have gone six games. It came down to a couple plays each game"

Per The Bill Simmons Podcast

Each game of the sweep, Los Angeles was in at the end. They didn't get blown off the court against the Nuggets except for the first half of game one. Denver had blowout wins over Minnesota, Phoenix and Miami during their title run but had all close games with the Lakers.

In the end, it doesn't really matter since the Lakers didn't achieve the ultimate goal but it's an interesting point to think about. Los Angeles heads into the summer with a goal in mind to bring title number 18 back to the city of angels.

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