Lakers’ matchup is up in the air
With 10 games left in the season for the Lakers after a 116-107 loss to the Wizards on Wednesday night in Washington, it’s time to turn our attention to the potential playoff matchups.
Though things could change considerably over the next twoplus weeks, there are some reasonable judgments to be made about whom the Lakers could see in the first round of the playoffs — and whom they should probably most want to play.
Not impossible, but unlikely
Dallas, Portland, Golden State, Memphis, San Antonio, New Orleans, Sacramento and anyone else not mathematically eliminated will likely stay in the sixth through 10th spots.
The Lakers probably aren’t going to climb into the top three, which are Utah, Phoenix and the Clippers.
The Lakers are probably not going to dip into the play-in pool either, not with LeBron James on his way back and Anthony Davis looking healthy in his return.
Let’s get weird
Phoenix or Utah could come into play here.
These scenarios require the Clippers leapfrogging one of the Western front-runners and the Lakers sliding back a spot, setting up a 3-6 meeting that would be a bummer for either of these two teams that had such great regular seasons.
Imagine being the Jazz, a team that has slowly built on a foundation year after year to become a credible contender only to run into the defending champions in the first round.
The conventional wisdom would say that you always take the team with the best player in a series, and the Lakers would have the two best players in a meeting with Utah.
Then there’s the Suns, with maybe Chris Paul’s last and best chance to win an NBA title beginning with a first-round meeting with one of his best friends, James. Considering the Suns are full of players with no experience, running into the Lakers isn’t so much being thrown into the deep end as it is being thrown into the deep end with a cement NBA championship trophy tethered to your ankle.
Despite outplaying the Lakers over the course of this season, it’s hard to imagine either being favored in a meeting with a healthy Lakers team in the first round.
Come on! The Clippers?
One of the perks awaiting the NBA writers covering the Lakers this season is the promise of a sliver of normality in the postseason — a life back in airports, on planes, in hotels and at restaurants following the Lakers wherever they begin their road to repeating. So, about that … There are definite roads to the Lakers opening their postseason in Los Angeles against the Clippers. It could happen if Denver surges and the Clippers cool down. It could happen if Phoenix and Utah hold off the Clippers while the Lakers drop some games reintegrating James and fall to the No. 6 spot in the West.
Plenty of people around the league think these are the two best teams in the West, so this would be bad news for everyone — James, Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and travel-starved NBA scribes.
It would be awesome to see these two teams finally square off. It would also be great if it happened as deep into the playoffs as possible, ensuring that the stakes would be higher and that Staples Center would be fuller.
The smart money is on Denver
This is where things stand if the playoffs began today, and it’s not too straining to imagine the Lakers keeping Dallas from catching them.
Even if things go great for them over these final 10 games, the Lakers are probably not moving any higher than the fourth seed.
So that leaves the Nuggets, a team with plenty of talent after losing Jamal Murray for the season. Nikola Jokic might end up as MVP.
Aaron Gordon could be the highest impact player dealt midseason and Michael Porter Jr. is making a Bob Beamon right in front of us.
Since the All-Star break, Porter Jr. is averaging 22.5 points and 8.1 rebounds, making 47.1% of his three-pointers on more than six attempts per game. In the history of the NBA, only three players have shot better than 47% from threes on more than six attempts — Stephen Curry (twice), JJ Redick and Joe Harris, who is doing it this season. So Denver’s no slouch. Yet of the options … it might end up being the best. That’s good news, because it’s also the most likely.
TONIGHT
VS. SACRAMENTO
When: 7:30
On the air: TV: Spectrum SportsNet, NBA TV; Radio: 710, 1330 Update: The Lakers return home to open a three-game homestand, starting with the Kings, and the hope is that James returns to play in one of those games. The Lakers face a fading Kings team that lost by 49 points to the Jazz in their last game and has lost 12 of their last 15 games. Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox is in the NBA’s health and safety protocols.