The remaining 23 games

[stan francisco]

GSW - W
DAL - W
MEM - L (James on IL)
OKC - W
MIN - L
GSW - W
MEM - W
TOR - W
NYK - L
@NO - W
@HOU - L
DAL - L
ORL - W

8-5 since ASB
6-5 since ASB sans LBJ

Play-in is probably the best way for this team anyway. Our current level of defense is simply not ready for the playoffs yet.

Remaining ten games:
PHX
OKC
CHI
@CHI
@MIN
@HOU
@UTA
@LAC
PHX
UTA

I think we’ll go 6-4 and so my adjusted prediction with ten games left is 14-9, no longer 15-8.

For defensive purposes (winning), here are the rotations I’d go with for the rest of the season:
PG: Reaves / Schroeder / D Lo
SG: Walker IV / D Lo / Beasley
SF: Brown Jr / Hachimura / Christie
PF: Vanderbilt / AD / Brown Jr
C: AD / *Bamba (sign someone!) / Gabriel

[tamaraw08]

GSW - W
DAL - W
MEM - L (James on IL)
OKC - W
MIN - L
GSW - W
MEM - W
TOR - W
NYK - L
@NO - W
@HOU - L
DAL - L
ORL - W

8-5 since ASB
6-5 since ASB sans LBJ

Play-in is probably the best way for this team anyway. Our current level of defense is simply not ready for the playoffs yet.

Remaining ten games:
PHX
OKC
CHI
@CHI
@MIN
@HOU
@UTA
@LAC
PHX
UTA

I think we’ll go 6-4 and so my adjusted prediction with ten games left is 14-9, no longer 15-8.

For defensive purposes (winning), here are the rotations I’d go with for the rest of the season:
PG: Reaves / Schroeder / D Lo
SG: Walker IV / D Lo / Beasley
SF: Brown Jr / Hachimura / Christie
PF: Vanderbilt / AD / Brown Jr
C: AD / *Bamba (sign someone!) / Gabriel

Per Espn, Lakers right now are in 11th place so if teams in front of them also go 6-4 then Lakers are out.
Pelicans have easier schedule,
Lakers losing to Utah which just beat the Kings without Markkanen snd Clarkson, might just seal it.
Minnie are refusing to lose even without KAT, D’Lo and Edwards, just beat the Knicks.

[bb22]

Oh this is not looking good. 6th is slipping away at this point. Never really thought it was in the works anyway, but there may be hope with the unfortunate news about PG.

Realistically we will lose tonight to the Suns, keeping us out of the play-in. I think the odds are less than 50% we make the play-in at this point, unless Lebron comes back early. And if we go in 10th, I can't say with confidence we can win 2 games in a row to make it to the playoffs given the new roster and Lebron likely being rusty. Those losses to Houston, NYC and Dallas would not have happened at full strength. And beating orlando thanks to a insane performance by AR is a little worrisome. Hoping for the best, though.

[Pythagoras]

Oh this is not looking good. 6th is slipping away at this point. Never really thought it was in the works anyway, but there may be hope with the unfortunate news about PG.

Realistically we will lose tonight to the Suns, keeping us out of the play-in. I think the odds are less than 50% we make the play-in at this point, unless Lebron comes back early. And if we go in 10th, I can't say with confidence we can win 2 games in a row to make it to the playoffs given the new roster and Lebron likely being rusty. Those losses to Houston, NYC and Dallas would not have happened at full strength. And beating orlando thanks to a insane performance by AR is a little worrisome. Hoping for the best, though.

What a roller coaster of emotion this season has been. That loss to the Rockets last week was just unbelievably devastating. I’ve given up hope on the 6th seed. Hopefully they can get in the play-in at full strength, but this season has been massively disappointing this far.

[TheHartBreakKid]

It's funny how much 2 losses can change everything in the West. AD misses an easily winnable game in the b2b against the Rockets, and the Lakers blow the game against the Mavs.

Win those 2, and you're 11-3 in your last 14, 2 games above 0.500, with a 37-35 record, at the 6th seed, with the Clippers only half a game ahead with PG now out for what looks like the rest of the regular season.


Anyways, no point in crying over spilled milk.

No Ayton or KD tonight. No reason why they can't win this game, with AD having a monster night.

[Pythagoras]

Win those 2, and you're 11-3 in your last 14, 2 games above 0.500, with a 37-35 record, at the 6th seed, with the Clippers only half a game ahead with PG now out for what looks like the rest of the regular season.

Freaking 4th seed would be in reach had they won those two…

Man that hurts to think about.

[LAKESHOW]

I would be weary facing off with Denver, because we are down a Big Man. We are sorely needing interior help for AD

[stan francisco]

Good win against the Suns. We’re back in the play-ins.

It’s time to slow down the game a bit in the half court set. The habit of more inside out play needs to be instilled before the post season starts. James will help with this just by returning but we are playing a bit too fast in the half court set.

I’d like to see Lonnie Walker Jr get all of Beasley’s minutes for the next five games.

[ROballer]

Ideally we get either 6 or 7.

I think we have more than a fair shot against either the Grizzlies who we already beat a couple of times this year.
And the Queens of course. They play no defense and they will be exposed as frauds in a hurry.


Every team they get to play in the first round will win that series.

I don't want no part of Denver in the 1st round. We need to build some chemistry with Lebron back and it will take a few weeks to get there.

4th or 5th seed is nonsense talk. Even if we won the few gimmies and got there, we would've been absolute clowns to actually want to be there. Would've been a matchup against the Suns/Warriors or Clippers.

6 or 7 is perfect to me.

[stan francisco]

Number 10 or higher is good with me. We can use the play-ins to tighten up rotations and get James warmed up for the first round.

[Kilroy]

IMO the fact that we're not already sitting at 6, with the opportunities we've had, makes me pretty unenthusiastic about our playoff chances this season, even after LeBron gets back... But if we don't make the play-in, I'd call that a complete and utter, failure, which I would expect a complete house-cleaning to result from...
So just make the freaking play-in... I'm done caring about anything else.

[tamaraw08]

Number 10 or higher is good with me. We can use the play-ins to tighten up rotations and get James warmed up for the first round.

Wow, 10th means they have to win 2 games on the road. Usually they struggle shooting on the road, fans booing ay them and refs tend to favor home teams.
Last but not least, I am concerned with another extra grueling game for AD because he tends to get hurt after playing for 15-20 straight games.

[Beethoven]

We go 9-0 rest of way we'll be 4th seed playing golden state guaranteed.

[stan francisco]

9-5 since ASB

[mighty_duck]

Wow, 6 teams tied in numbers of losses for the 7th seed. This can really go any way.

[zimpy27]

Assign a % chance they win each game and add them up, divide by 100 and you have the answer of how many wins you think they get.

GS 70%
@DAL 50%
@MEM 30%
@OKC* 50%
MIN 70%
GS 70%
MEM 60%
TOR 70%
NY 70%
@NO 70%
@HOU* 90%
DAL 70%
ORL 90%
PHX 50%
OKC 70%
CHI 80%
@CHI 60%
@MIN 50%
@HOU 90%
@UTA 60%
@LAC* 40%
PHX 50%
UTA 80%

15 wins and 8 losses

They could be lucky and nab 6th spot.
Likely that they make play-in with a double chance

Lakers are doing better than expected guys.
This was my prediction at the ASB and it assumed that LeBron would be healthy. After the Suns game I predicted Lakers would be 9-5 and they are exactly 9-5.

This is without LeBron.

Lakers are on target for 6th or 7th spot.

[mighty_duck]

...
OKC 70%

I wish I had your confidence

Tonight's game is a big one. Until yesterday's drubbing by the PG13-less Clips, OKC was one of the hottest teams in the league. Lets hope we can keep them cool on a back-to-back.

[Pythagoras]

We go 9-0 rest of way we'll be 4th seed playing golden state guaranteed.

Would be an 11 game win streak overall headed into the playoffs. I’d say even the most pessimist of Lakers fans would have to be on cloud nine about this team if they were riding an 11 game win streak to close the season.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Tonight is as close to a must win as there is.

It would put us a full game ahead of the Thunder, and most likely 2 full games ahead of the Jazz (They play the Bucks tonight).
Not only that, it gives us the tie breaker against the Thunder.

Warriors also have a tough game tonight against Philly. A warriors Loss and Lakers win would only have the Warriors ahead of the Lakers by half a game, and would tie the Lakers and Wolves. Why do I mention the Wolves and Warriors? Because they play eachother on Sunday and one of them has to lose.

[zimpy27]

Every game that Lakers were about to get to .500 they have lost...