Lakers News: How Charles Barkley Feels About LA's Improved Midseason Play
Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena, your Los Angeles Lakers fought their way back from a huge 19-point first half gap to force at home against a more talented Dallas Mavericks club, and then kept pace with the Mavs to force a second OT frame.
LA's luck ran out there, as the club fell to Dallas down the stretch of that second bonus period, 119-115.
But Charles Barkley, for one, didn't care if LA lost by a quarter inch or a mile. What mattered to Chuck was, well, the losing.
"It's still groundhog day. The Lakers lost again," Barkley joked during the bout's TNT postgame show.
"Give them a little credit for coming back from 19," Ernie Johnson countered.
"What you want a cookie? Want a participation trophy" Barkley retorted.
"You don't think the Lakers are playing better basketball over the last 15 games?" Kenny Smith asked Barkley.
"They lost again," came Barkley's brief but not-untrue reply.
The Lakers have gone a solid 6-4 across their last ten games, including a recent five-game winning streak, though the Dallas defeat does mark their second consecutive loss.
At 19-23, the Lakers currently occupy the 13th seed in the Western Conference, three shy of a play-in game. The West is relatively bunched-up beyond its top five players, however. The Lakers are just 2.5 games shy of the 22-21 Clippers. LA is another win streak away from avoiding the play-in tournament entirely.
