The Los Angeles Lakers unfortunately missed a golden opportunity to climb up the standings, losing the L.A. Clippers for the 11th time in a row on Wednesday night.
It was a game that seemed lost from the jump as the Lakers looked tired after having to beat the Utah Jazz in overtime the night prior. James admitted as much after the loss as he attributed part of the blame to the schedule.
With the loss to the Clippers, the Lakers now currently sit in No. 7, which means they would be hosting a Play-In Tournament game if the 2022-23 regular season ended today. However, when asked about the possibility of being in the Play-In, James did not seem very concerned, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Listen, it is what it is. Wherever we end up, that’s where we end up. It’s been a…it’s been like four or five seasons in one for us. We don’t have the luxury of saying this is what we need to do, this is where we’re going to be. We need to still continue to play good basketball. We got another game on Friday versus a very good team and then we end the season on Sunday versus Utah, so we’ll see what happens. We’ll see wherever we fall and we’ll be ready to go.”
A Play-In Tournament appearance would mark the second time the Lakers would have to earn their postseason berth, with the first time being back in 2021 during their thrilling win over the Golden State Warriors. Of course, there’s still a shot that L.A. can avoid the Play-In entirely but that would require them to beat the Phoenix Suns and Jazz as well as at least one Warriors loss.
Golden State is set to face off against the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers, so fans might be better off bracing for the Los Angeles to be in the Play-In as James already seems to be doing. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s far from ideal considering that anything can happen in a winner-take-all scenario.
Still, the purple and gold are peaking at the right time so as long as they remain healthy their chances of making the playoffs appear very solid.
Darvin Ham credits Lakers depth for allowing LeBron James to conserve energy
The remodeled roster has been able to gel faster than anticipated and the added depth has done wonders for James. Darvin Ham credited his team for being able to take over parts of games as it’s allowed James to conserve energy.
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