Los Angeles Lakers must gain momentum heading into the playoffs

The Los Angeles Lakers do not look great.

After another abysmal performance against the Indiana Pacers, the Los Angeles Lakers are in serious need of some playoff momentum from their final two regular-season games.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost on Saturday to the Indiana Pacers, bringing their NBA bubble record to a very unexpected and disappointing 2-4. T.J. Warren had another masterful game and the Lakers offense outside of James, Cook, Horton-Tucker and Howard continued to miss on wide open looks.

Anthony Davis had yet another poor game putting up only eight points and eight rebounds in 35 minutes, and the Lakers were just unable to get any offensive flow together for what seems to be the sixth game in a row. One area where the team seemed to thrive however was in the offensive rebounding department.

With that said, the Los Angeles Lakers have two games remaining before the playoffs begin. Those games are Monday against the Denver Nuggets and Thursday against the Sacramento Kings to close out the season.

Many may feel the Lakers have premier talent on the roster and that they should rest and assure they go into the playoffs healthy. However, the team can most definitely not afford to go into their first-round matchup (who many assume will be against the Portland Trail Blazers) with a record of 2-6 or even 3-5 and no confidence on the roster.

Anthony Davis needs to get his confidence back if he hopes to be LeBron James‘ right-hand man on the way to an NBA title. The only way he will be able to do that is by playing against Denver and Sacramento, and seeing the ball go down more than it did against the Pacers.

Looking ahead for the Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are playing their fourth game against the Nuggets, and their third against the Kings. Anthony Davis has played very well four of five games so far against the two teams, so two strong games from him is not out of the realm of possibilities and would be a major boost for both he and the team going into the playoffs.

Anthony Davis aside, this team has been absolutely horrific on offense. Getting everyone going cannot happen if they are not even checking into these final two games. The defense will be okay, however, the offense needs to find its rhythm and it needs to do so incredibly quickly.

If Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel for some reason decides to rest his starters before the first round, it may have a detrimental impact to the team and with how they have played so far, a first-round exit may not be so unexpected.

The Blazers are a much stronger team than they were prior to the season being suspended, and if they come into the playoffs hot they are more than capable of making the series a very competitive one.

To Frank Vogel, do NOT let this team come crawling into the playoffs. Yes, the one seed has already been clinched, but this team has a lot to figure out if they want to make it out of the Western Conference, and depending how bad things get, maybe even out of the first round.