Los Angeles Lakers are in need of a miracle to make playoffs

Coming off of a blowout loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Los Angeles Lakers are in dire need of a miracle to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Things are not going great for the Los Angeles Lakers currently. After having a private meeting with Magic Johnson regarding the recent trade rumors surrounding Anthony Davis, the Lakers preceded to get blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers with Magic Johnson watching courtside.

They now sit two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Now to some, that might not seem like a huge gap to overcome, but I truly believe that there is cause for concern about the Lakers making the playoffs.

As I’m pretty sure most Lakers fans know, the Lakers have not made the playoffs in five years. It has been the longest playoff drought in the history of this storied franchise.

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I realize that up until LeBron James‘ injury, the Lakers were the 4th seed in the Western Conference. When the Lakers lost LeBron they struggled to consistently pick up wins in his absence and subsequently dropped all the way to the 10th seed in the west.

Now that LeBron is back, some people are optimistic that his presence alone is going to somehow will the Lakers back into the playoffs.

However, I am genuinely concerned about those odds.

I personally believe that two games is a lot of ground to make up and even though the Clippers traded away Tobias Harris and are now essentially out of the playoff hunt, the Sacramento Kings picked up Harrison Barnes from the Dallas Mavericks which should, in theory, boost their chances of making the playoffs.

But what has me really biting my nails is the fact that the Lakers this season have been consistently inconsistent.

Going forward the Lakers have the 5th toughest schedule in the NBA and in the past, even when they were winning as the 4th seed in the west, you could see that they could have been much more.

The Lakers would beat the Golden State Warriors in Oakland without LeBron James for the most part, but then turn right around and get blown out by 42 points to the Indiana Pacers without Victor Oladipo when LeBron is in the lineup.

This, coupled in with the fact that the Lakers are still waiting for the return of their starting point guard, Lonzo Ball, makes me think that it is not going to be an easy path to reach the playoffs.

Now, Magic Johnson recently came out and said publicly that the Lakers young players are fine and that they were not really affected by the trade talks as badly as the media portrayed, and I for one believe him.

I sincerely believe that the situation is behind them, but when you are on the outside looking in, then it is going to be hard to control your own destiny.

Not only do the Lakers have to win as many games as possible and limit the miscues, but they also have to rely somewhat on the play and hopeful downfall of the Sacramento Kings, who are currently in front of them and also looking to break their playoff drought, which currently stands at an NBA leading 12 years.

Its definitely not impossible, but in order for the Lakers to make the playoffs they are going to have to stay healthy, and they are going to have to make as few mistakes as humanly possible.

They can’t afford to have the kind of collapses as they did against Indiana and the 76ers. They need to tighten up their defense, which starts and ends with the effort of the players. They are going to have to rise above any outside noise and scrutiny that will come with every passing game that the Lakers remain outside of the playoff picture.

To simply put it, they really need a miracle. While miracles do happen, they are few and far between.

We’ll see how the Lakers respond in their next game against the Atlanta Hawks tonight on Spectrum Sportsnet.