NBA playoff picture: Lakers’ best-case Tuesday outcomes (with seeding)

The Los Angeles Lakers are on the road to take on the Utah Jazz on Tuesday and with only four more games on the schedule, it cannot be understated how important this game is for the purple and gold.

Utah’s season is essentially over and the team is better off losing games than winning games. It is imperative that the Lake Show takes advantage of this and can not only beat the Jazz but beat them comfortably to prepare for Wednesday’s showdown against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Lakers-Jazz game is not the only important game on Tuesday as the entire Western Conference playoff picture could get shaken up depending on what the outcomes are. In a perfect world, Los Angeles would get exactly the outcomes it needs and would climb the standings as a result.

Current NBA playoff picture in the Western Conference:

Here is how things are currently shaking out in the Western Conference. The top six seeds instantly advance to the NBA Playoffs while seeds seven through ten go to the NBA Play-In Tournament. Seeds seven and eight essentially get two cracks at it while seeds nine and 10 have to win two games in a row to make the playoffs.

1. Denver Nuggets
2. Memphis Grizzlies, 3 GB
3. Sacramento Kings, 5 GB
4. Phoenix Suns, 9 GB
5. Los Angeles Clippers, 11.5 GB
6. Golden State Warriors, 11.5 GB
7. Los Angeles Lakers, 12 GB
8. New Orleans Pelicans, 12 GB
9. Minnesota Timberwolves, 13.5 GB
10. Oklahoma City Thunder, 14.5 GB
11. Dallas Mavericks, 15.5 GB
12. Utah Jazz, 16 GB

The Los Angeles Lakers can actually clinch a play-in spot with a win and a Thunder loss on Tuesday. But that is not the only outcome that will impact LA.

Perfect Tuesday outcomes for the Lakers:

Lakers defeat Jazz

This is rather obvious and should be the outcome that fans see on Tuesday. The Jazz have several prominent players who are not playing in this game and if the Lakers are a serious contender then they should be able to take care of business rather easily.

Kings defeat Pelicans

The Pelicans have the same record as the purple and gold but fall behind because of the tiebreaker that the Lakers own with a better head-to-head record. An LA win and New Orleans loss on Tuesday would essentially give LA a two-game lead over New Orleans with three games to play.

Thunder defeat Warriors

Yes, LA can clinch a play-in spot if the team wins and the Thunder lose but it would actually be better for OKC to beat Golden State. The chances of LA falling out of the play-in are slim to none and the team does not have to worry about waiting to clinch. Instead, it would benefit from usurping Golden State in the standings.

Nets defeat Timberwolves

Minnesota was potentially looking to climb above the play-in and has dropped multiple spots in the last few games. A Timberwolves loss and Lakers win on Tuesday would almost guarantee that LA would, at the very least, get a seventh or eighth seed in the play-in.

Western Conference seeding after perfect Lakers outcomes:

For the rest of the games in the Western Conference, we are going to assume that chalk holds. The Nuggets beat the Rockets, the Grizzlies beat the Blazers and the Suns beat the Spurs.

1. Denver Nuggets
2. Memphis Grizzlies, 3 GB
3. Sacramento Kings, 5 GB
4. Phoenix Suns, 9 GB
5. Los Angeles Clippers, 12 GB
6. Los Angeles Lakers, 12 GB
7. Golden State Warriors, 12.5 GB
8. New Orleans Pelicans, 13 GB
9. Minnesota Timberwolves, 14.5 GB (own tiebreaker over Thuder)
10. Oklahoma City Thunder, 14.5 GB
11. Dallas Mavericks, 16 GB
12. Utah Jazz, 17 GB 

In a perfect world, the Lake Show would be able to climb out of the play-in on Tuesday and enter Wednesday’s matchup against the Clippers with the fifth seed on the line. The Clippers do own the tiebreaker so the only way to usurp them is to finish with a better record.

This would also essentially give the purple and gold a 1.5-game lead over the Warriors with three to play because of LA’s tiebreaker. As you can see, Tuesday’s action can end up having huge implications.