The 2018 NBA Finals has a rather large Los Angeles Lakers presence. Four of the organization’s former players have graced the court for either the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers while another, Tyronn Lue, is a head coach.
Through two games so far the results haven’t been great for the former Lakers, with the lone exception being Larry Nance Jr. His minutes have fluctuated throughout the playoffs, but with the Cavaliers looking to be the more physical team and dominate the glass, Nance has gotten relatively consistent time and taken advantage of it.
In just under 16 minutes per game, Nance is second on the Cavaliers in reboundding, pulling down 8.5 per contest to go along with 5.5 points. Cleveland doesn’t have many options when it comes to bigs so Nance’s rebounding and energy has been a big positive.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for his other fellow Lakers. Jordan Clarkson’s playoff struggles have continued in the NBA Finals.
He has made just three of 13 shots, bringing his field goal percentage down to just 30.1 percent in this playoff run. Jose Calderon on the other hand, has only seen four garbage-time minutes in this series.
As far as the former Laker on the other side of the series, Nick Young has also struggled in his first Finals appearance. With Andre Iguodala having yet to suit up, Young has been one of the players tasked with filling the void.
Young, however, has shot just 1-for-9 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts in 12 minutes per game. Young has proven that he can get hot at any moment and he shot 40 percent from deep in the Western Conference Finals.
But with Iguodala potentially returning for Game 3, Young’s opportunities could lessen significantly. There is still plenty of time for the former Lakers to make more of an impact in this series, but so far, aside from Nance, it has been a struggle overall.
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