Lakers in 5

7 actually, but memes and things

RUSSEL WESTBROOK TO THE LAKERS.
Put simply, Lakers in 7! Imagine this scenario. It's the NBA finals, Lakers vs Nets, Harden dissapears in the 3rd quarter. The game is tied, Lebron goes to the bench for a long breather. The Nets plan to sit KD next time out, but then WESTBROOK and AD dominate with the pick and roll. Nets are forced to keep the starters out, fourth quarter comes, Lebron is healthy and full of energy.
Next game, WESTBROOK catches fire for 3 quarters and puts immense pressure on the Nets Defense, the Nets buckle down and stop the WESTBROOK AD pick and roll. Lebron laughs and takes over.
This is Lebron's genius at work! When the Nets put their super team together, they picked 3 brittle superstars that can't close a series by themselves. That would be fine, but Kyrie and Harden will ALWAYS get hurt or have a bad game in clutch play off situations. However, even if they are healthy, the Nets big 3 essentially all play the same role. It's a shallow brute force pairing of all time talent that just doesn't work in the end.
By contrast, the Lakers big 3 all have completely different roles. Lebron is 37, Westbrook will allow him to rest longer and hide his degrading talent for just a little longer. This was a smart, pridless, all in kinda move and I truly believe it will pay off.
"But Ruben, Kyrie was clutch that one time when he played with Lebron."
I got news for you, everyone can play with Lebron. Without the King, Kyrie has been an abysmal teammate who's either hurt, suspended, or just doesn't show up. If Lebron was able to tame that...Westbrook, a hungry more experienced player who never cheats you with effort...that's a cake walk to the Finals.
THE only reason I got Lakers in 7 instead of 5 is because of KD. KD has never finished a big play off series without Steph Curry and Clay Thompson, but he will expend every ounce of energy he has to do it. I may not believe in KD, but he has championship pedigree and will go out SWINGING. Like he did against the Bucks this season.
A big reason for the Lakers winning in 2020, when they were healthy, is rebounding. Now they have RUSSEL WESTBROOK. There's going to be so many offensive boards and put backs!!!
The one knock on the Lakers is their three point shooting, but Lebron and AD are good enough. Besides, the last two NBA champions, Bucks and Lakers, won with size up the middle and were kinda bad at three point shooting. So, whatever.
I want, I NEED the Lakers Nets NBA Finals. Only injuries can stop their clash...injuries will most likely stop the Nets from even making it out of the East, BUT I really hope I'm wrong.