Bubble Blogs: Talen Horton-Tucker needs help in Madden

Plus more from inside the NBA bubble.

While the Los Angeles Lakers have been playing their seeding games in Orlando, they’ve been playing another game: Madden 20. On Friday, LeBron James shared a picture of the Lakers’ Madden Tournament leaderboard on Instagram, and it’s safe to say Talen Horton-Tucker and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are just waiting for the final game on the schedule.

Meanwhile, Quinn Cook is trying to finish the season without a loss. If Cook slips up, James (5-1) could finish atop of the Western Conference for the second time this season. Even if James loses, the tournament will still be a win for him because, judging by the looks of it, he’ll be getting an early copy of Madden 21, which is set to hit shelves of August 25.

Hopefully he can get his teammates a few copies too.

Shaq’s got the Lakers

The “Inside the NBA” crew picked made their picks for a potential Western Conference Finals matchup between the Lakers and Clippers, and Shaquille O’Neal is confident his former team would come out on top:

“If you got the Clippers’ focus against the Lakers’ focus with LeBron ... it’s going to go to seven, and I’m going with the Lakers over seven. I’m telling you what the Lakers are doing right now: they’ve got the first spot clinched, they’re relaxing. They’re just going to relax. Then two days before the playoffs start, you start to wind it up. And then after Game 1, which is always the feel out game, then it’s turned back on. Then you know what you’ve got to do.”

Charles Barkley is less convinced, and his concerns start with Anthony Davis:

“I still think it’s going to come down to Anthony Davis. I don’t know if he’s got that dog in him. Shaq knows this and Kenny knows this: you need to have a guy who say ‘I’m just gonna kill y’all. Ain’t nothing y’all can do about it. If ya’ll double me, I’m gonna go crazy. If y’all double me, we gonna get wide-open 3s.’ Anthony Davis hasn’t proven to me that he can be that guy.”

Personally, I’m siding with the guy that has four championship rings, three of which he won with the Lakers. But that’s just me!

Rajon Rondo can juggle

I honestly don’t have much to add here: just enjoy.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.