Lakers Playoff Watch: How High Can LA Get In West Rankings Today?
At 37-37, your Los Angeles Lakers presently occupy the eighth seed in a very crowded Western Conference playoff/play-in race.
In these final eight games of the Lakers' regular season, every game is precious.
Los Angeles is just two games behind the West's fourth seed, the 39-35 Phoenix Suns, and just two games ahead of its 12th seed, the 35-39 Utah Jazz. After news broke that the 32-41 Portland Trail Blazers were considering throwing in the towel on their season by sitting All-Star Damian Lillard, it appears that another club may be falling out of the play-in race sooner rather than later.
The 11th-seeded Dallas Mavericks are currently struggling mightily, for the second straight game, against the lowly 24-51 Charlotte Hornets. If Dallas loses tonight and again tomorrow against the mediocre Indiana Pacers, that could be enough to effectively end its season.
A win against Chicago today would propel LA to the seventh seed, at least temporarily. The West's current seventh seed, the Minnesota Timberwolves, play the sixth-seeded Golden State Warriors in San Francisco later tonight.
Elsewhere in today's pertinent action for LA's playoff chances, the 10th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder (36-38) will do battle against the Blazers. It would behoove LA to root for a Portland upset here.
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