The Brooklyn Nets took down the Los Angeles Lakers in Staples Center on Thursday night, 109-98. The game didn’t have quite as much buzz about it as it would under normal circumstances due to some of the injuries both teams are working through — Kevin Durant was sidelined, as were Anthony Davis and Dennis Schröder.
There was still more than enough star power, but this matchup has the potential to be the most star-studded in basketball, with numerous All-Stars across both teams when fully healthy. The good news, relatively speaking, is that one person who played in the game looked down the road and anticipates that these two teams might have something bigger than a one-off tilt on a Thursday night in store.
Kyrie Irving spoke to the media after the game and made a prediction: When the Lakers get fully healthy, these two teams are going to run into one another, much to the delight of fans.
"We'll see them down the line again. … I know everybody wants that.”
Kyrie Irving on facing a fully healthy Lakers team
(via @SNYNets)pic.twitter.com/75SYCj05nt
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 19, 2021
“We’ll see them down the line again, and we look forward to it, with a whole entire healthy Lakers team,” Irving said. “That’s what we really wanted, I know everybody wants that. I’m looking forward to the challenge and seeing them down the line.”
It is certainly plausible that Irving is referencing the fact that the two teams have only played once this year and L.A. still has to travel to Brooklyn in the regular season during the second half of the year, but then again, a potential showdown between the Lakers and the Nets in the NBA Finals would be awfully tantalizing for basketball fans. At the very least, it probably wouldn’t be as one-sided as the last time the two teams faced off with the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the line.
