The Los Angeles Lakers are officially out of time. With nine days left in the NBA season, the Lake Show finds itself on the outside of the play-in tournament. They hosted the New Orleans Pelicans at Crypto.com Arena on Friday night. The same team that humiliated them in the same building on national television just after the All-Star break. The same team that spotted them 12 points to start last Sunday’s game and a 20 point halftime lead only to outscore them 67-39 to lose the season series.
Why should anyone care at this point?
Well, a Lakers loss would close the door on a real chance of making the play-in tournament without some serious help from San Antonio and New Orleans. Like choking type help. Then there’s the return of Anthony Davis to the lineup. Yippee?
Let’s look at the data of the challenges of this team…like again.
- The Spurs still own the tiebreaker over the Lakers who played a tanking Portland team.
- The Pelicans still own the tiebreaker over the Lakers going for a season sweep for the first time since 2014-15.
- Meaning…the Lakers still have to finish higher than both teams record-wise…with five games left
- But to do that, the Lakers have to win more than two straight games which they haven’t accomplished in three months!
Starting with winning this game period with the Denver Nuggets coming over the weekend.
The season is on life support after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans 114-111. The Lakers are now 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament and were swept by the Pelicans for the first time since 2014-15.
The narrative of when AD gets back on the floor with LeBron excuse effectively died.
The good from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
There is an Anthony Davis effect when he is on the floor!
In no way will this Los Angeles Lakers website feed into the narrative (Also read: excuses!) that the Lake Show is in the position that they are now because Anthony Davis has spent more games out of the lineup than he’s actually played. Does it play a factor? Sure, but this team is just bad and lacks disciplined effort for extended periods this season, particularly after the All-Star break.
But the team looks more streamlined with AD on the floor. First off, this is his first bucket after six weeks…
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1510087797365153792
He makes things a lot easier for his teammates which includes LeBron James. With the exception of Russell Westbrook, the starting five not only shot well in the first half, but they shot GREAT!
- LeBron James: 15 points on 6-9 shooting!
- Avery Bradley: 7 points on 3-4 shooting!
- Dwight Howard: 6 points knocking down all shots from the field (2-2) and from the free-throw line.
All while scoring 8 points (4-8 shooting!) with 9 rebounds and 4 assists. He opens the floor to allow an extra second for the shooter to get their shots off from the perimeter and LeBron doesn’t have to face walls going into the basket or two players always hawking him on the perimeter.
Davis finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.
LeBron James went on a serious scoring binge.
Let’s get this out of the way. LeBron James is trying to win the scoring title. Anyone that tells you differently is lying and doing a poor job of hiding it. With Giannis putting together back-to-back games of 40 points or more, the Greek Freak is percentage points behind James.
The staff of Lake Show Life has openly accused LeBron James of stat-padding this season on numerous occasions, but this game was not one of them. The Los Angeles Lakers needed every point he put on the board.
The King sure played like one in the third frame scoring 21 points to set up a tight start to the final frame.
LeBron finished with 38 points and 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
C.J. McCollum played in this game.
In the era where million-dollar moves with ten-cent finishes are the rage in basketball, C.J. McCollum is a breath of fresh air in how the game is supposed to be played. Man, this dude can play some basketball and the way he scores is so smooth.
McCollum pulls up from deep to give the Pels the lead 🎯 pic.twitter.com/PtNsOqWAzK
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 2, 2022
The Lakers flat out could not stop McCollum as he scored 32 points with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. How good is he? If Damian Lillard was not playing in Portland, this guy would be getting the franchise player shine in the great Northwest. It’s good to see him getting the attention he deserves in the Big Easy because this cat can play.
Brandon Ingram gashed the Lakers as well…
These are more about celebrating the talent of these players as opposed to bad defense of the Lakers. Like McCollum, Brandon Ingram is a very talented offensive player with a ridiculous wingspan that Lakers fans have been used to seeing for a few years. He finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
A 13-4 run in crunch time…
That is the nail in the coffin Lakers fans. This game and the season.
LeBron James had 35 points going into the last frame. He only scored 3 points.
The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss:
This game matters to an extent but the San Antonio Spurs won so the Lakers were still behind!
Yes, there are media outlets that say the Los Angeles Lakers still have a chance and blah, blah, blah. The fly in the ointment with this scenario is that both the Pelicans and the Spurs get to play the Portland Trail Blazers, who will try their best to tank the rest of the season away.
Want an illustration? Just watch…
Man, the Spurs just destroyed the Blazers 130-111 to hold on to the 10th and final spot in the play-in tournament. Guess what? The Spurs get a chance to play this same tanking team on Sunday while the Lakers play the Denver Nuggets and their MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, who is playing unconscious basketball right now. The Pelicans recently beat the same Portland team earlier this week.