Lakers and Mavs are just 3 games away from Playoff spot.

[Soupman]

The lakers and mavs are just 3 game away from securing a playoff spot(going by losses).

Do you think they can make thier way in?

[Sting3r]

Honestly all it takes is one of those teams to go on one 9-10 game winning streak to be right in it.
But easier said than done. Quite frankly if they can't then they don't deserve to make post season anyways.

[kingofcomedy]

Great, as a mavs fan nothing like a chance at getting swept by the spurs and no shot at the lottery

[sunskerr]

Honestly all it takes is one of those teams to go on one 9-10 game winning streak to be right in it.
But easier said than done. Quite frankly if they can't then they don't deserve to make post season anyways.

This makes sense

[Young_Star11]

In place of who?

[OOO]

I see Houston moving up in the standings. Golden State is free falling right now, and Utah has some tough games ahead. I think the Lakers will overtake those two and end up as the 6th seed. Not too confident about the Mavs unless Dirk can get back to his old self.

[TwentyOne920]

They need to win like crazy tbh.

Lakers need to play great ball to reach 6th, but only need to play like they did on their Grammy road trip to get 8th.

Of course D'Antoni has never beaten Pop in the playoffs.

[PurpleRooster]

Win like crazy, but even then they do not control their own destiny really.

[OneWhoKnocks]

Looking at schedules, I think the Mavs and the Jazz have the toughest schedules coming up. Lakers schedule even though they will be playing tons of away games in march will be playing against low-seeded/lottery teams.

[hatreserve]

Kobe says that the Lakers will make the Playoffs this year but the super talented old team is like the LA Dodgers of last year. (But hopefully not this year) . No chemistry.
If they make the playoffs they are def. not be able to pass the next round ..

[pwrshft99]

Lakers will make the playoffs. Even if the don't get it together soon, I see the refs handing them a few games to keep them in the hunt. The NBA doesn't want to see the Lakers miss the post season.

[jasonliw93]

Heres an idea,
If you were the other teams in the west, would you go easy on the rockets to screw the lakers?

[nikomCH]

They need to win like crazy tbh.

Lakers need to play great ball to reach 6th, but only need to play like they did on their Grammy road trip to get 8th.

Of course D'Antoni has never beaten Pop in the playoffs.

Good thing Kobe and Nash ave!

[dike77]

Mavs have Lakers at home and the Rockets two times in the next 2 weeks. They need to win these

[TheRealistGM]

The lakers have been right there for a while now. But Houston isn't showing the signs of falling apart therefore it is up to the Lakers to get hot. With 27 games left, if they go 20-7 they will need houston to finish with a record of 16-10 or worse. That is essentially a 75% win rate. To put that into perspective only SA has that kind of win percentage this year and they've been gunning on all cylinders.

Even if houston finishes the rest of the season with a .500 record (13-13). The lakers will need to finish off the season winning ~64% of there remaining games. Only 5 NBA teams are currently winning at that pace.

If houston continues to win at the same rate they are winning right now they will have 44-45 wins at the end of the year. Lakers need to 18-9 or 19-8 (67% and 70%) to make the postseason. Based on that its going to be very difficult for the lakers to make the playoffs. Can they do it? Sure. But they are going to need to either get very very hot and play like the elite teams in the league or hope Houston takes a bit of a nosedive (Or even one of Utah or Golden State).