{"id":111469,"date":"2021-04-07T12:20:49","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=111469"},"modified":"2021-04-07T12:20:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T12:20:49","slug":"roundtable-lakers-face-daunting-playoff-scenario-are-nets-a-lock-for-the-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/roundtable-lakers-face-daunting-playoff-scenario-are-nets-a-lock-for-the-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Roundtable: Lakers face daunting playoff scenario; are Nets a lock for the Finals?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James isn&rsquo;t expected to return to the lineup until the end of April after suffering&nbsp;a high right ankle sprain. Anthony Davis could return next week after missing time with a calf strain. In the meantime, the Lakers have been falling in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have consistently been tabbed as the favorite to win the NBA title. But they have gone 4-5 without James and Davis and have dropped to No. 5 in the West. It&rsquo;s not inconceivable that they could fall to the No. 7 seed and be forced to participate in a play-in game to advance into the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>What would such a scenario mean for the Lakers?<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s just one of many questions we have about the NBA. With news that James Harden suffered a hamstring strain and will miss at least 10 days, what does that mean for the Nets&rsquo; championship prospects?<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>RAJON RONDO: <\/strong>Is Rondo the missing piece to the Clippers&rsquo; championship puzzle?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>ATLANTA FALLOUT: <\/strong>NBA coaches applaud MLB for moving All-Star game from Atlanta<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This week&rsquo;s NBA roundtable tackled those questions and more. USA TODAY Sports&rsquo; Larry Starks moderated the discussion with a panel of NBA experts from around the USA TODAY Network: Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY Sports, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Evan Barnes of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Berry Tramel of the Oklahoma City Oklahoman and Chris&nbsp;Iseman of the Bergen County Record.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/04\/07\/USAT\/bf972a5e-e5d0-4ece-aa50-b43600464a6f-USP_NBA__Los_Angeles_Lakers_at_Phoenix_Suns.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/2021\/04\/07\/lakers-play-in-game-playoffs-nets-finals\/7118356002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James isn&rsquo;t expected to return to the lineup until the end of April after suffering&nbsp;a high right ankle sprain. Anthony Davis could return next [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":111468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Roundtable: Lakers face daunting playoff scenario; are Nets a lock for the Finals? - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/roundtable-lakers-face-daunting-playoff-scenario-are-nets-a-lock-for-the-finals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roundtable: Lakers face daunting playoff scenario; are Nets a lock for the Finals? - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LeBron James isn&rsquo;t expected to return to the lineup until the end of April after suffering&nbsp;a high right ankle sprain. 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