All Lakers Playoff Seeding Guide: Who Fans Should Root For On Thursday?
The Los Angeles Lakers enter Thursday 0.5 games up on the Golden State Warriors for the 9th seed in the Western Conference. They have been hovering around this spot for some time, as they try to make a late-season push toward a better seed.
Los Angeles is three games back of both the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks for the 7th and 8th spot respectively, giving them a tough path forward. However, the Lakers' schedule does lighten up down the stretch, so they'll need to take advantage.
Every game matters at this point in the season and Los Angeles can't afford any slipups going forward. Unfortunately, they have put themselves into a position to scoreboard watch to move up in the standings, but they do control their own fate to at least clinch a spot in the play-in tournament.
There are a few games on the schedule around the association that Lakers fans should be paying attention to. Each of them could have a direct impact on where Los Angeles shakes out in terms of playoff seeding.
First off, the fans should be rooting for the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz tonight.
Chicago takes on the Houston Rockets, who are hot on the tails of the 10th seed. Houston has won six straight games entering today, so the hope is that the Bulls can cool them off.
Washington faces off against the Sacramento Kings, who are 3.5 games ahead of Los Angeles, sitting in the coveted 6th seed. And Utah heads to Dallas to play the Mavericks, who are directly above the Lakers in the standings.
The New Orleans Pelicans play tonight as well, facing off against the Orlando Magic. While the Lakers likely won't catch the 5th-seeded Pelicans, the more teams ahead of Los Angeles to lose, the better.
Of course, these are external games that the Lakers need help with to climb the standings. But none of it matters if the Lakers don't take care of business tomorrow against the Philadelphia 76ers at home.
Philadelphia will still be without star Joel Embiid, as he recovers from an injury, so Los Angeles needs to grab another win. The clock is ticking on the Lakers season, and they don't have a lot of time to waste.
