Lakers Playoff Watch: Why LA Will Enjoy A Play-In Advantage
For their regular season finale on Sunday, your Los Angeles Lakers will face off against a Utah Jazz team that is already eliminated from the play-in tournament race, and thus will not be incentivized to win. A 43-39 season finish seems likely. The 43-38 Golden State Warriors and 42-38 Los Angeles Clippers are just barely ahead of the Lakers in the Western Conference standings, and by record are both catchable.
Per Mike Trudell of Lakers.com, the Lakers will at least get two cracks at making the playoffs during the play-in tournament, as they can finish no worse than eighth in the Western Conference. The ninth and tenth seeds will, at best, be stuck in single-game elimination scenarios during the play-in tournament.
Trudell adds that, with a Lakers win on Sunday, an 0-2 Los Angeles Clippers finish to their season, and losses from the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans, LA could finish as the West's fifth seed. Given that Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton and the rest of the very-intimidating Phoenix Suns would be lurking as the fourth seed, I'd cross my fingers and hope very much this doesn't transpire.
A Lakers win tomorrow against a Jazz team that will probably rest its starters, in combination with a 1-1 Clippers season finish, combined with Pelicans and Warriors losses, would help LA ensnare the sixth seed.
The NBA today released a very convoluted list of every possible play-in tournament scenario remaining this season. If you've got a microscope handy it could be worth a look.
Again, the fifth seed would mean a date in the first round against a Phoenix Suns team whose backups almost beat the Lakers last night. Let's avoid that, shall we?
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