How The Lakers Can Avoid The Western Conference Play-In Tournament
Avoiding the Play-In Tournament will not be easy for any team in the Western Conference playoff picture this season, especially the Los Angeles Lakers.
After their dreadful start to the season, the Lakers have turned things around since the All-Star break and they have put themselves in a position to not just earn a Play-In Tournament spot, but potentially make the playoffs outright.
With just six games remaining on their schedule, the Lakers are 38-38 on the season and currently occupying the 8-seed spot in the West.
The Lakers reside three games back of the 4-seeded Phoenix Suns, 2.5 games back of the 5-seeded Los Angeles Clippers, 1.5 games back of the 6-seeded Golden State Warriors and most importantly, they are a half-game back of the 7-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves.
On Friday night, the Lakers will be on the road and they will be taking on the Timberwolves, a game they must win if they are to have any shot at avoiding the Play-In Tournament this season.
The main reason this game is so important is because the Timberwolves and Lakers have already played two of their three games this season. Minnesota has won both games, meaning that no matter the outcome of this game on Friday night, the Timberwolves will own the tiebreaker over the Lakers.
Essentially, with this tiebreaker, the Timberwolves lead the Lakers by 1.5 games simply because if they end up tied in the standings, Los Angeles will automatically be below them.
With a win over Minnesota in their next game, the Lakers will move a half-game above the Timberwolves into sole possession of the 7-seed. Then, they would still need some help, but they would be within striking distance of the Suns, Clippers and Warriors, all of which would not lead them by many games in the standings.
It is also worth mentioning that the Lakers could control their own fate at that point, as they still play both the Clippers and Suns in back-to-back games on April 5 and April 7, respectively.
With a loss to the Timberwolves on Friday, the Lakers would fall one full game behind Minnesota in the standings, theoretically meaning that they would be two games back with the tiebreaker coming into effect.
Having five games left, overcoming a two game deficit would still be possible for Los Angeles, but highly unlikely.
It may not be a "must-win" game for the Lakers, but playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves is as close to one as it can be.
Time will tell if the Los Angeles Lakers can get a huge victory, one that could finally put them on the path to success heading into the postseason.
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