The Los Angeles Lakers entered Friday night’s game as one of the hottest teams in the league. But a poor shooting night from everyone resulted in a brutal blowout loss (109-90) to the Indiana Pacers. It marked the 33rd defeat for Los Angeles this season and stark reminder of their place in the West.
It was a taste of sweet revenge for the Pacers, as they got to take down the team that sent them packing during the play-in tournament in December.
After the game, Lakers fans were pretty upset with the results and many were unimpressed with the starters for coming out flat. The whole team shot just 16.7% from three and made just four total on the night.
We know that managing his injuries are a priority for LeBron at this point in the season but fans were hoping to see more from him in what was a relatively quiet night from the King.
D’Angelo Russell was especially bad in this one, and the fans let him have it. He finished with just 6 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds on 21.4% shooting. While D’Lo has been good lately, this was a standout stinker from him and the Lakers were unable to recover.
Anthony Davis was the highest scorer for the Lakers, with 25 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 assists on 52% shooting. Outside of him, though, nobody else scored more than 16 points, including LeBron who only made 6 shots the whole game.
Regardless of who was to blame, the result will never change now and the Lakers have no time to dwell on their past mistakes. The season will press on, and unless the Lakers want to risk losing their playoff spot they need to get back to winning as soon as possible. This year, there is just no margin for error in the Western Conference.
A Tight Race In The West
The Lakers still have a lead for the 9th seed in the West and the gap is closing quickly. Tonight’s loss brings the Warriors to within 1.5 games of 9th place and they will be fighting all season to steal that spot to secure home court advantage in the play-in tournament.
Somehow, even 8 games above .500, the Lakers are a bottom seven team in the West and on the verge of not making the playoffs at all. To keep their spot and fend off the Warriors, the Lakers will have to play near seamless basketball down the stretch here. If not, they could be asking some serious questions in upcoming free agency.
In the meantime, their efforts are entirely on closing out this season and preparing for a playoff run that could take them to the depths of the NBA postseason. As we saw a year ago, anything can happen at this stage of the game and the Lakers cannot be counted out until they are totally eliminated.
With the Warriors breathing down their necks and the Suns still within arms reach, the Lakers control their own destiny now and the margin for error couldn’t be slimmer. If the Lakers are to have any chance at success, LeBron and Davis will have to be at their best, and D’Angelo Russell will need to be better than he was tonight. Chances are, the Lakers will hit their stride at the right time but they cannot afford to get too careless with their play or it could cost them a chance at the postseason entirely.
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