If we learned anything from last night’s slugfest between the Lakers and Warriors, it’s this:

“If you’re seeing three, always aim at the middle rim.”

The Lakers survived one hell of an effort from Stephen Curry and Golden State in their first play-in game to lock down the 7th seed in the Western Conference, and set their first-round date with the Phoenix Suns later on this weekend.

The Warriors came out confident, taking full advantage of a sluggish start from the Lakers, particularly from LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Dennis Schröder, who were abysmal in the first half of this game. It appeared the injuries and lack of continuity within the team would prove to be their downfall early, especially when Curry capped on the first half with a dazzling three at the buzzer.

The only bright spot up until that point was Alex Caruso, who’s defense on Curry and timely offense was just enough to keep the Lakers within striking distance.

Then in the third, the Lakers woke up, and got back to their brand of basketball. Swarming defense leading to transition buckets, and plenty of LeBron at the rim made it a game heading to the 4th.

The two titans went back and forth the entire closing quarter, Draymond poked LeBron’s eye, and he hit an unbelievable shot with under a minute to win it all.

I got to say, early on, I was completely sold on the Lakers losing this game.

The classic slow start, with a hobbled LeBron, AD showing no signs of life, and a seemingly still out of game-shape Dennis, it looked like they were content with treating this as another tune-up game and taking out Memphis on Friday for the 8th seed. I mean, we’d heard for the past month the Lakers have no preference of seeding, that they’re confident in either the 7th or 8th seed. But with this play-in game nonsense, anything can happen in one game elimination, even if the Lakers would be a heavy favorites in a potential contest against the Grizzlies.

We also knew if Steph went totally nuclear, it would be a tall task for even the Lakers to overcome.

But credit them for battling back in the second half behind staggering defense that we’ve been so accustomed to seeing from Frank Vogel’s Lakers.

As stated, AD was not himself by any stretch, at least offensively. But, he still made his presence felt on the defensive end as he always does, capped off by denying Curry a catch on the final possession of the game to secure the victory.

Dennis Schröder couldn’t buy a bucket seemingly all night, as was getting torched by Curry in one-on-one scenarios. But his initial aggressiveness to start the 3rd got himself and the Lakers going, put more importantly, put the Dubs in a tough spot defensively by getting the Lakers into the penalty early in that quarter.

James seemed to dig into his bag of secret stuff at the half after looking slower than ever in the first half. To me, the lack of explosiveness both off the step and up into his layups was clear, but he rallied with a couple big shots, including the aforementioned three to seal the deal.

Now, let’s talk about this supposed “I saw three rims” debacle.

First of all, none of us are LeBron, so we can never know for sure if his postgame story reins true.

The things I do know is that Draymond did get him pretty good, and that eye was watering quite a bit. And there was a slight, but plenty visible, mark of irritation on LeBron’s eye from then on.

However, I also know LeBron does really sellout to sell these types of plays, and if he really could not see, I don’t care who you are or what sport we’re playing, COME OUT. I don’t need someone who literally cannot see in the game, dude. Not even you, Bron.

But man, what a shot. Three rims, or not. The reaction from Steph was priceless as well, who I have to give a shoutout to as well.

This man was being doubled and tripled all night by the league’s top rated defense, and still dropped 37 and gave the Lakers all they could handle, IN STAPLES. We cannot, and must not, let this Steph season go forgotten, no matter what happens Friday agains the Grizz. The stuff he’s doing, with basically only Draymond (who is just incapable of scoring anymore) to rely on night after night, has been sensational. Jokic or Embiid will win MVP, but any first place vote for Curry is plenty deserved.

Speaking of great performances, the Lakers game ball goes to Alex Caruso. Like I said, this dude was fantastic from the jump on both ends, and kept them afloat in the first when nothing went their way. Just countless big plays on either end, and I only hope as he gets more exposure in these postseason games do people appreciate how well he epitomizes the definition of a winning basketball player.

Nevertheless, the Lakers are locked in at 7, and will face the Phoenix Suns, who have had a regular season for the ages. Chris Paul’s arrival has really jettisoned a young team into elite-level contention. With athleticism at nearly every position, great three point shooting, and great leadership from head coach Monty Williams and CP3, the Suns will be a tough out, to say the least.

Not to mention the Lakers still have not shown signs of being completely in sync, despite last night’s win. A team as tightly wound as Phoenix could make up for the talent-gap big time by playing their brand of basketball consistently and efficiently behind the maestro that is Chris Paul. If the Lakers kind of stumble about like they did against the Dubs, and the Suns get clicking early and often, they might find themselves behind quickly in the series.

The good news for the Lakers, though, is just that: they are the more bigger, more talented ball club.

Emphasis on bigger.

The Suns will undoubtedly render Andre Drummond useless a majority of the time, going small with Dario Saric, or “small” with their center Deandre Ayton, to close games.

But as we know, the Lakers have the ability to “go small” without really even going small, with Davis at the 5 spot and his ability to switch onto anything and anyone. We also know, even though he doesn’t particularly love playing the 5, the Lakers are most lethal when they enlist him at that spot.

I liked the veteran presence and effort from Wes Matthews tonight, and his energy in the second half was another key component in the comeback. Expect to see Vogel go for experience over Talen-Horton Tucker in these lineups with AD at the five in the series against the Suns, granted THT doesn’t have one of those games where he puts the opposing guard in the weight room continuously on drives.

We know what we’re getting from AC and Kentavious-Caldwell Pope at the guard spot, the wild cards would be those minutes that either go to THT or Wes. Another interesting notion is, again, with the Suns going small often, Andre Drummond will likely become a spectator for a majority of these contests. We know he’s center insurance for potential matchups with Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic, or even the Embiid’s or Giannis’s of the East for the purple and gold. But in replacement of those minutes, will we see the return of Markeiff Morris against a Saric or Kaminsky, given Montrezl Harrell’s overall ineffective defense? Or even some Jared Dudley, fingers crossed? We’ll see come Sunday.

I would say, given they win the size, experience, and talent differentials, it has to be the Lakers’ series to lose. But the Suns have impressed all season long, and run their ship tightly and efficiently. And in inevitable, classic, “down to the wire” playoff games were bound to see in the series, they have two elite closers in Paul and Devin Booker to go to in the clutch.

It’s going to be a hell of a series, folks.

And, hopefully, the first obstacle the Lakers tackle on their way back to the chip.

Shoutout once again to Steph and Golden State. We set the play-in game standard for the rest of these bums.

Cheers.