After a good win on Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls, the Los Angeles Lakers faced perhaps their most important game of the 2022-23 season against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers and Timberwolves are neck-and-neck in the standings and the winner of their matchup would claim sole possession of the No. 7 seed
Things looked dicey in the first half as Los Angeles fell behind by double digits at halftime. However, the Lakers flipped the game on its head in the second half to come away with the victory and another move up the standings as a result.
By virtue of win percentage, L.A. and the New Orleans Pelicans managed to push Minnesota back down to the No. 9 seed. Although the Lakers and Pelicans have identical records, the former owns the tiebreaker and thus leaves the latter at No. 8.
The night only got better for the purple and gold as they also saw the Oklahoma City Thunder surprisingly lose to the Indiana Pacers while the Utah Jazz dropped another game against the Boston Celtics. Both should still be considered threats in the Play-In Tournament, so seeing them lose on a night when Los Angeles won makes things sweeter.
Unfortunately, the Lakers are far from out of the woods as they still need to win out if they hope to keep their spot or even move up to No. 6. While they should hopefully exact revenge on the Houston Rockets with LeBron James and Anthony Davis presumably in the lineup, they get a tough back-to-back against the Jazz and L.A. Clippers.
Even though it’s more statistically probable Los Angeles finishes at worst in the Play-In, the ideal outcome would be to avoid it entirely. The next week will determine their fate, so it’ll be interesting to see how things turn out.
Lakers standings update
5. Clippers (41-37)
Upcoming schedule: @ New Orleans (April 1), vs. Lakers (April 5) vs. Trail Blazers (April 8)
6. Warriors (40-37)
Upcoming schedule: @ Nuggets (April 2), vs. Thunder (April 4), @ Kings (April 7)
7. Lakers (39-38)
Upcoming schedule: @ Rockets (April 2), @ Jazz (April 4), @ Clippers (April 5)
8. Pelicans (39-38)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Clippers (April 1), vs. Kings (April 4)
9. Timberwolves (39-39)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Trail Blazers (April 2), @ Nets (April 4), @ Spurs (April 8)
10. Thunder (38-40)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Suns (April 2), @ Warriors (April 4), @ Jazz (April 6)
11. Mavericks (37-40)
Upcoming schedule: @ Heat (April 1), @ Hawks (April 2), vs. Kings (April 5)
12. Jazz (36-41)
Upcoming schedule: @ Nets (April 2), vs. Lakers (April 4) vs. Thunder (April 6)
13. Trail Blazers (32-45)
Upcoming schedule: @ Timberwolves (April 2), @ Grizzlies (April 4), @ Spurs (April 6)
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