James Aims To Break Opening Night Losing Streak With Lakers
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 >> All right, and the first thing that everybody will be aware of is,
00:08 put the banner out, give out the rings tonight.
00:11 And that's what usually happens with the Denver Nuggets.
00:14 And that's gonna be the case with them winning, of course, the championship.
00:17 They take on, gotta put them against LeBron James, right?
00:19 I mean, you gotta have LeBron on opening night, he's a living legend playing.
00:23 He's gotta play against somebody opening night.
00:25 Denver's five and a half point favorites, the total is 228 in this game.
00:30 And so, Gilbert, generally speaking, when you talk about opening night and
00:35 you talk about the banner being lifted from the rafters,
00:38 people think that that usually means the team loses.
00:41 We've seen this sometimes in the past.
00:43 I think that's a fake narrative.
00:45 It seems to me that I'm going back and looking at history.
00:48 Some teams do win and cover big in those opening nights too.
00:51 So your thoughts on opening night here between these two teams?
00:55 I know LeBron obviously ain't gonna go out without a fight on the first night of
00:58 the season.
00:59 We know that as well.
01:00 And what are the odds say, Gilbert?
01:01 It's only five, it spreads only five and a half.
01:03 So certainly anything can happen here.
01:06 >> Absolutely, Greg.
01:07 And I think back to what you're saying about, is ring night a distraction or not?
01:11 And honestly, the numbers would suggest that you're right.
01:13 It's not necessarily a distraction.
01:15 The last five defending champions are four and one on ring night.
01:18 And ironically, the one team that lost was the Lakers back in 2020.
01:23 So I think that it makes sense you think back to how that
01:26 conference final series went between these two teams.
01:28 Lakers were a bit outmatched.
01:30 I think that the Nuggets have replaced some of their key contributors like Bruce
01:33 Brown and Jeff Green with rookies.
01:36 But I do think that them playing with that altitude is always gonna work in their
01:40 favor.
01:40 And on the flip side, you look at LeBron James,
01:42 you mentioned him playing on opening night.
01:44 It's wild to think this is the sixth season with the Lakers.
01:47 And the stat that really is wild to me that he's on five on opening night.
01:52 So as a member of the Lakers, LeBron James has never won on opening night.
01:56 So history would suggest that the Nuggets are gonna take care of business.
01:59 And LeBron and Lakers will start the season off on one just as they have
02:03 his last five seasons in the purple and gold.
02:05 [MUSIC]