New Orleans Down Multiple Stars for Lakers Clash

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a crucial loss to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. They are still fighting for seeding in the Western Conference.

Los Angeles currently sits fourth in the Western Conference standings, just a half-game behind the Nuggets. They are also just two games ahead of the eighth seed.

That means the Lakers have to try to win as many games as they can down the stretch so they can have home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs. That also means beating the bad teams on their schedule.

That means beating the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, even though it is the second night of a back-to-back for the Lakers. The good news for them is that they will be facing a very shorthanded Pelicans squad.

Several players for New Orleans have already been ruled out for this game. Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, and Dejounte Murray are all out for this game.

That means that the Lakers will face one of the worst teams in the league without their four best players. Losing this game would be a disaster for Los Angeles.

The Lakers are not only trying to fight for seeding, but they are also trying to play some more consistent basketball. They need to build some momentum before the playoffs start.

New Orleans is the fourth-worst team in the league, and they are trying to lose as many games as possible so that they can have a better shot at landing Cooper Flagg.

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Los Angeles is hoping to keep their own players healthy for the playoffs, including LeBron James. James is figuring out a way to nurse his groin issue as the regular season winds down.

The Lakers have just six games left on their schedule. Four of them are against playoff teams. That means they have to win the two games against bad teams, which would be the Pelicans and the Trail Blazers.

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