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Los Angeles Lakers
Record: 28-29 (.491 WIN%)
Current Standing: 10th in the Western Conference
Chance to make playoffs: 22.4%
It’s pretty unsettling to see that a team with LeBron James is below .500 with a mere 25 games left to play in the 2018-19 regular season. The Lakers are currently at the 10th seed and are three games out of the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Although it is only three games, the Wild West is no walk in the park for a Lakers squad that has played mediocre since their big Christmas Day win over the Golden State Warriors. What looked to be a statement victory that could’ve sparked a big win streak did just quite the opposite. LeBron James went down with a groin injury and went on to miss the 18 of the next 19 games. The Lakers have gone 8-13 since their Christmas Day victory (6-10 without LeBron James ).
That is what leads us to today. Here is my prediction as to what the Lakers need to do if they want to be playing basketball in mid-April.
MUST-WIN GAMES: vs. New Orleans Pelicans (3 games), Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, and Washington Wizards.
A common theme between these six teams: they all are projected to pick in the top-10 for the 2019 NBA draft. The Lakers head to head record against these teams this season has been 6-3 with Lebron playing in all but one of those losses. The Wizards, Grizzlies and Knicks were the three teams that upset the Lakers.
With 3 games out of the eighth spot in the West, the Lakers need to make every game count. This means they should not lose more than 1 of these 8 games. I say they go 7-1 with that lone loss coming to the Pelicans as they will play one another 3 times.
Tough Competition: vs. Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, and Portland Trail Blazers.
This next wave of teams includes several playoff teams that are looking to mount a run of their own. I expect the Lakers to still come out above .500. In all honesty, it sounds crazy… but as long as the Lakers have Lebron, they have a chance. I see the Lakers getting a W in all but two of these games. 1 loss will most probably come against the Boston Celtics as they are a top tier team in the East that is trying to find an identity. I can see them having a better run through their last 25 games compared to that of the Los Angeles Lakers. Another loss I would expect to see is either against the Jazz or Trail Blazers. I would say the Rockets as the Lakers have not beat them once this season but with a healthy (and hungry) James in the Lakers lineup, I’m sure he can hold Harden down when it matters the most in the 4th. The Lakers have an 8-8 record against the teams mentioned above with 4 of those losses coming without LeBron.
A plus side to this 11 game bunch is that 7 of them will be at home in Staples Center. They will tip-off the beginning of their 25 game stretch at home against the Rockets tomorrow night. I’m going to say that the Lakers can go 9-2 with a loss to the Celtics and Jazz/Trail Blazers. If they cannot close out a win at home against the Rockets tomorrow night, I’ll go with dropping them to 8-3 through these 11 games.
Don’t Bank on it!: vs. Milwaukee Bucks (2 games), Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers hold a 3-5 record against these 5 teams with W’s against the Thunder, Nuggets, and Warriors. They have played the Raptors once (November) which resulted in a 121-107 loss. They will be playing the Thunder and Warriors once each in their last 5 games of the season. Finally, they are yet to play the Milwaukee Bucks who currently own the best record in the NBA.
I’ll take the Lakers to go 2-4 in these games with victories against the Nuggets and Warriors. Sounds crazy huh? I say they get the W against the Warriors because it will be in the last 5 games of the season. I would hope that the Warriors should be up at least 2-3 games sitting atop at the #1 seed. There's a possibility that they would rest their starters for playoff basketball. The Lakers just have to hope that they do…
So yes, LeBron James is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2004-2005 season… will it happen though? Only time will tell.
