Schedule Watch/Discussion: Now They All Matter

Two game lead for us thanks to Denver and GS losing.

 

Den/Clipps 1st rd would be awesome.

 

We need to beat them again to lock up that 3rd seed. Hoping our Big 3 scores 90+ and instill fear into them heading into the playoffs.

 

Real crazy what one day can do to Western conference standings

 

Yep 2-2 would lock the 3rd seed

 

Yea, my gawd it was a good day for us. We played out of our minds and clobbered the team with the best record in the Assn on their home court. Then we needed HOU to win in San Francisco, and they did. We needed the Pacers to go into DEN and send DEN to their 4th straight loss, and it happened.

The level of stress/nervousness over the next week just got a lot less. We're now in what sexologists call the "refractory period."

If we win again in OKC on Tue night, I'm afraid I'm gonna start worrying about "peaking too early" or some made-up fan's jit.

 

This is the 1st time in history that this phrase was uttered or written in a basketball site

 

hard to believe that only okc and houston are guaranteed not to be in the play-in with 4 games left.

 

It's mathematicaly possible for Lakers to get in playin ,but in reality it's impossible with less than 1%.
If Lakers couldn't even win at Portland at meaningless game, what's the reason trying to play in postseason
I am not worried about play in at all
That's why I rarely go to NBA or ESPN official pages

 

There's some rumors that Murray is injured more serious than it's reported

 

2-2 to clinch the 3 seed is a far better position that I thought we'd be in a couple of weeks ago. Very interested to see how we approach OKC tomorrow/Dallas Wednesday. OKC still kind of needs to win games, they're 2 games up on the Cavs for best record in the league so I'm sure they want to ensure homecourt in the Finals. Dallas is 2.5 games up on the Suns for the last play-in spot, so they're pretty safe in terms of making the play-in, but they're only .5 games back of the Kings for homecourt in the 9/10 game. But how much do they really care about that? They just got annihilated in back-to-back games against the Clips. They must know they don't actually have a chance at doing anything without Kyrie.

There's a temptation to sit Luka and LeBron tomorrow and then go all-out against the Mavs on Wednesday. If we beat the Mavs, that leaves us with two shots to clinch the 3 seed: vs. Houston (who's basically locked up the 2 seed already) and @Portland. I'm not sure what I want us to do. I think resting guys tomorrow vs. OKC makes sense, but throwing away games with this much still to gain doesn't feel right.

 

yeah I suspect that this is what they are going to do - as this allows the rest to spread out and they can see how other teams to determine game plans.
as not in the play-in they're going to get rest so they may prioritize spreading it out more and not lose game time reps completely for a long period of time

 

Lakers should NOT be trying to rest anybody right now or play with basketball Gods like this...we need to go guns blazing to get 2 wins NOW to secure the 3rd spot and then only after that, we can figure out whether we should rest or not. I think if Houston LOSES to the Clippers though...we would be stupid to not "go for it" and try for the 2nd seed, esp since we face Houston and have a shot at gaining a full 2 games on them (because we'd own the tiebreaker). And I like that Houston has denver as their last game because we KNOW denver is going to be desperate for a win to potentially avoid the PLAY IN (did I really just say that? lol)

 

I just want to see us healthy and "reasonably rested", once the playoffs start. Bring on whoever the seedings dictate. That team is going to have a problem.

 

yep they're going to tank the OKC game. They're not going to let Luka down so all hands for Dallas. Then one win against Houston and/or Portland - Houston probably going to be resting folks as well

 

Doncic is questionable for Tuesday's game against the Thunder due to a groin strain, Ryan Ward of LakersNation.com reports.
Same with LeBron
James is questionable for Tuesday's game against the Thunder due to a groin strain, Ryan Ward of LakersNation.com reports.

Some Lakers staff are definitely reading chat