The Los Angeles Lakers have not had the kind of start that fans were hoping to see this season. While not much changed from the disappointing season last year, there was still some optimism that a new head coach and new role players would make a difference.
Instead, the Lakers have started the season with a 7-12 record that bottomed out with an extremely disheartening loss to the Indiana Pacers. The Lakers blew a big fourth-quarter lead to Indiana, removing any optimism that fans had after a decent stretch of games.
The worry now for Lakers fans is that this loss is going to snowball into something bigger. Any momentum that the Lakers had is potentially gone, especially if the team lets this ugly loss carry into future games.
That is exactly what Sam Quinn of CBS Sports is worried about. Quinn highlighted the importance of the Lakers’ upcoming game against the Portland Trail Blazers and getting back on the right foot.
Last year the Lakers blew a 26-point lead to the Thunder and basically folded thereafter.
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) November 29, 2022
I can’t overstate the importance of Wednesday’s game vs. Portland. If this team has a shred of fight left in it we’ll see it then. If not, given the upcoming schedule, the season is over.
A similar collapse as last year would be deadly for the Lakers.
Ironically, the Lakers blew two different games against the Thunder last season. On top of the 26-point blown lead in October, the team also blew a 19-point lead against OKC in November. Blown leads is not something new for this group so hopefully, they can rebound and not have the same follow-up as last year.
Following last year’s blown lead, the Lakers went 6-9 in their next 15 games. While that does not seem awful, a 6-9 record following their loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday would put the Lakers at 13-21. Being eight games under .500 with almost half the season played is probably too big of a hole to dig out of.
It is imperative that the Lakers beat some of the middling teams that are coming up on their schedule because the team also faces some pretty tough competition coming up. Los Angeles plays the Bucks, Cavaliers, Raptors, 76ers, Celtics, Nuggets and Suns in their next nine games. That is a tough slate of opponents to come up against.
This upcoming stretch of games after blowing the Pacers game really could make or break the Lakers’ season. If this team wants any chance of being a playoff team they have to overcome Monday’s embarrasing loss and string together some wins.
3 moves the Lakers must make in order to become actual contenders
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If not, it might be too little too late for Los Angeles and we could see the franchise mail it in the rest of the year as a result.