After a year of drama, the Lakers reach NBA Finals anyway

[admin]

Here's a list of just some of the things the Los Angeles Lakers have gone through in the last 12 months: playing through a politically charged situation in China during the preseason and more massive fallout after returning home, the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash, a pandemic and four-plus-month suspension of play, the season being moved to a bubble 2,500 miles from their homes, the ongoing battle against racial inequality in this country and emotions fraying to the point where giving up was considered. After all that drama, all that angst, all those challenges, the NBA Finals await. LeBron James, the once-perennial Beast of the East, is now the Best in the West.