How Far Do The Lakers Think They Can Get In Playoffs?
On Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, your 43-39 Los Angeles Lakers will host the self-loathing, self-injuring 42-40 Minnesota Timberwolves in their first of a possible two Western Conference play-in games.
The Lakers expressed excitement for their matchup against Minnesota, but seemed to temper that with some self-criticism for their performance down the regular season's home stretch, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
“We put ourselves in a position where we can move on. That's all we asked for,” All-Star small forward LeBron James said. “We had games that we could’ve won. We had games that we should’ve won. We had some things that didn’t go our way. So, to know where we are today, you can be happy about that but not satisfied.”
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham took things even further, seeming to project that Los Angeles could win not just a play-in game, not just a playoff series, but possibly multiple playoff rounds.
“I just think the sky’s the limit, man,” Ham said. “I think if we’re healthy and we get the team to pay attention to detail and continue to alleviate mistakes that may be a little repetitive and sustain the things we’re doing well, I think sky’s the limit. Any team with LeBron James and a healthy Anthony Davis, D-Lo [D'Angelo Russell], Dennis [Schroder], Austin [Reaves] – all these guys – Vando [Justin Vanderbilt] … We’re not going to put a ceiling on our own selves.”
If Twitter is to be believed, Lakers fans are also quite confident that LA can at least beat the Timberwolves and, subsequently, their next matchup, the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
Buha notes that, after incorporating all their newly-added players on February 11th, the Lakers boast the best record in the Western Conference, the second-highest win percentage in the league, and the NBA's sixth-best net rating.
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