After crushing the Houston Rockets in five games, the Los Angeles Lakers will try to top the resilient Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals. Unfortunately, the team already has a dark cloud hanging over it courtesy of Charles Barkley.
Ahead of Game 1 of this playoff series, Barkley issued his famous guarantee, which has doomed other teams in the prior rounds like the Portland Trail Blazers.
“I’m GUARANTEEING the Lakers gonna kick they ass”
Chuck is betting on the Lakers 😂
(via @NBAonTNT)pic.twitter.com/FJShtEvlYE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 19, 2020
The Hall of Famer was so enamored with the Blazers heading into the first round of the NBA playoffs that he predicted Damian Lillard and company would upset the top-seeded Lakers. Obviously, that didn’t happen with the Blazers falling apart and losing to LeBron James’ squad in five games.
As if the first-round prediction weren’t bad enough, Barkley doubled down in the second round. He predicted the Los Angeles Clippers would sweep the Nuggets in four games. That series ultimately went seven games with Nikola Jokic leading the resilient squad to a second consecutive series comeback down 3-1.
With Barkley being dead wrong though in the playoffs thus far, the Lakers likely want no part of bold and seemingly unwise predictions from the 57-year-old. Los Angeles is favored to come out on top in this series, but as the Nuggets have proven throughout the postseason, anything can happen.
It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out with all the pressure on the star-studded Lakers. The Nuggets have already far exceeded expectations and have nothing to lose as they take on the title favorites in this seven-game series.
