You say that after every loss. Still three games out of the play in and have the tie breaker over the Clippers btw.
because this team has too many flaws. the lack of a solid post presence obviously, lebron clearly not being at 100%, and the defense has been nonexistent the last couple games, likely because they're wearing down as the season goes on schedule's not getting easier either. two games against houston, two against OKC, and warriors coming up. they also play the bulls again who they can't keep up with
It does hurt to not have a big that can punish mismatches on switches. Like what Porzingis does for the C Bags. You don't run your offense through him on the block, but he scores on smaller guys. This is part of why I could see us revisiting Mark Williams in the offseason. He doesn't shoot like Porzingis, but he'll score on switches.
Yeah there's a certain group just can't wait to predict sky is falling ... play in .... we suck ... etc. What has changed is Bron isn't back yet to where he was 100% and Rui especially was playing great in the starting lineup, and now he's admittedly 70-80% plus never does as well off the bench so it's going to take a little time. Plus the D is way down from where it was, and a good part of the reason for that @sk2408 laid out below. Time for JJ and staff to come up with new plans, and to facilitate that ...... start sleeping in the training center, abandoning their private lives and no sex for the next 3 months like a boxer prior to a big bout. Allegedly. "The style of defense we were playing during that run isn't sustainable over the course of a regular season. This is why teams still play mediocre traditional rim-protecting bigs rather than going small all the time. Its why the Warriors, at the peak of their powers, still started guys like Bogut, McGee, Looney and Zaza in the regular season when their Draymond at the 5 lineups obliterated everyone. Its about eating innings in the regular season. It's easier on everyone to funnel ballhandlers into your rim protector for most of a Tuesday night game in February than it is to go switch heavy, rotate, swarm the ball, etc. "
We are not going to be in the play-in guys. Relax. We got that part covered. The team is simply tired, which resulted in some unexpected losses. And we're not the only ones. Good teams are limping into the playoffs. It's going to be brutal. Only OKC keeps trucking. They are deep, young, athletic, this is their year.
There’s 11 games left, if we win 60% as is our season percentage, we’ll win 6-7 of the next 11. Let’s say 6. That means we’ll finish 49-33. For GSW to overtake us, they need to go 9-1 to get 50-32. They verse @MEM, @LAL, DEN, HOU, @PHX and LAL. I think with curry out they lose 2-3 and end up in the play in. For Clips to overtake us, they need to go 10-1. They verse @NYK, @CLE, @ORL, 2x DAL, HOU, @SAC, @GSW left. I mean good luck only picking up one loss from those 8 games. For Wolves to overtake us, they need to go 11-0. They verse PHX, @DEN, @MIL, @MEM left. This is practically impossible. I find it more interesting where we finish 2 through 6. Our schedule isn’t easy to close out but I imagine teams will be resting starters too. 6-5 should be doable. I wouldn’t mind us staying in the 4th or 5th seeding and getting MEM in the first round. Followed by OKC in the second.
good analysis, but per my whining in the other thread, i'll believe the 6 wins when i see them. we'll probably win at least one of the next four. but the only game in which we might be favored will be chicago, who just beat us badly on our court. you know curry's back for that gs game and will be looking to make a point. we're counting on okc resting guys, but my guess is they play them one night for sure and definitely beat us at least once. the only wins i feel comfortable with (famous last words) are NO, dallas, and portland. and we probably drop one of those and win one i'm not expecting. so let's take a worst-case scenario (which leans on recent trends instead of season-long trends), and we go 4-7 instead of 6-5. all of a sudden, gs only has to go 7-3 (no problem, it's what they've been doing for a while now) and the clips 8-3 (again).
I would be surprised if we come up empty in the road trip. We can win or lose any game, that's the type of team we are. It's also good we are facing this adversity before postseason, so we can adjust faster and be ready for the playoffs. I also think the team knows how good it can be so there's an extra desire to right the ship. I'm sure they all want to avoid an extra play-in game and that can be the catalyst to secure an extra win or 2 that held us on the top6.
GSW passing us puts us at 6th. We’d need clippers to go 8-3 as well. This is on top of us going 4-7 which I don’t think is super realistic. I believe you’ve swung too far into the negative for a team with Luka Doncic and Lebron James. We won’t be a sub .500 team - because if we are than who cares about the playoffs we don’t have a chance.
We all know what that means, right? Not playing Thursday at OKC March 26, 2025 Morant (hamstring) has been ruled out for Thursday's game against the Thunder.
Lakers move up to 4. 1 full GB Denver. Tied with the Grizzlies record-wise, but we hold tiebreaker. We play them in 2 games. Incredible that the Lakers have not had more than a single day’s rest since the March 10-13 period right in the middle of that 0-4 road trip against Nets then Bucks. The next period where the Lakers get more than a single day’s rest is the start of a 3-game home stand against Houston (March 31) then against Golden State (April 3). From that GSW game to end the season (final 7 games), the Lakers will play 7 games in 11 days lolol. STAY HEALTHY PLEASE, but finish a top 6 seed. Please beat Chicago tomorrow after that embarrassing shellacking at home last week.
Fires didn’t help but that Laker hating schedule maker is still alive and employed, it has been this way since the last Kobe title. Bastard
We were a bit helped yesterday tbh, I think we will have some friendly refereeing in the next games, the league surely wants Bron and Luka in the playoffs. Gotta take advantage from that. But it's really tough, Clippers are winning everything and from 2 to 8 there's absolutely no one safe. Yesterday's win was reaaaally huge. Tough stretch now, with Chicago in a b2b, then a run of Memphis, Houston and GS, all rivals in this 7 team fight to avoid the play-in. Every win counts. We top it off with NOLA on another b2b, which has all the ingredients for a bait game. I would forfeit the first OKC game, gives us a 4 day rest before a b2b followed by the Houston game, I think it might be worth it to finish the season strong. But will depend on the results until then.
I think we are where we gonna be…injuries and bad luck did a number on the record. Hoping for a 50 win season but understandable if we miss it by a game or two
