LOS ANGELES — It felt like a playoff game. It sounded like a playoff game, with the Golden State Warriors, their popular style of play and the magic of Steph Curry drawing as many roars as the Lakers. Maybe louder, too.
If it’s indeed a playoff preview, it seems that the Lakers still have some work to do. But, then, the Warriors aren’t the only tough out in an overloaded Western Conference.
The Lakers’ 123-116 loss to Golden State on Thursday night probably had its genesis in a scoreless drought of more than six minutes, the final 3:43 of the first quarter and the first 2:29 of the second. From that point, the Lakers played catch-up the rest of the evening.
But games such as this can be learning tools, and it’s especially true for both teams in this case. The teams had played once since the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic, five days after that Feb. 1 trade, and he didn’t play that night. And the Lakers hadn’t seen the Warriors with Jimmy Butler; he had 11 points in 36 minutes on Thursday, and while he’s averaging 17.5 points in 23 games with the Warriors, right around his season average, it’s possible they’re still figuring out how best to utilize him.
“I’ve (seen) them making big acquisitions to change the dynamic of their team before,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “I’ve had to go against them when they added Kevin Durant.
“Jimmy Butler is great. He adds toughness to them. He adds a championship DNA type of guy. So it’s always the same, they always figure it out.”
The Lakers with Doncic and the Warriors with Butler are probably the two most intriguing teams in what has turned into a trophy dash at the end of the season to determine who plays who in the playoffs.
Oklahoma City (64-12) is the team to beat right now, or maybe the team to avoid as long as you can. From there, after Thursday’s games five victories separated second-place Houston at 50-27 and Memphis and Minnesota, who are tied for sixth at 45-32. The Clippers are right behind at 44-32, and the bottom two from that list will wind up in the play-in round.
For the Lakers, 46-30 after the Golden State loss and before playing New Orleans in a back-to-back on Friday night, the possibility of starting at home is particularly enticing. If nothing else, it would mean a chance to regain a bit of stability, especially after a grueling bit of scheduling. The two days off between Monday night’s victory over Houston and Thursday night against the Warriors represented the first time since March 11-12 that they had consecutive days off. (And those were in the midst of an Eastern trip.)
That stretch started with six games in eight days, remember, partially due to rescheduling of games affected by January’s fires. And from the 13th of March through Thursday night, the Lakers were one game under .500 at 6-7, but they were still a half-game behind No. 3 seed Denver.
“Yeah, we would like to be in the top four,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before Thursday’s game. “We’d like to have home-court (advantage). I think beyond just playing well at home, it would be nice for our guys to finish in Portland and then be able to be home for nine or 10 days.
“I’ve played in Philly, I’ve played in Orlando, played for the Clippers. That was 13 of my 15 years in the NBA. every year we had, you know, two East Coast trips or two West Coast trips. We’ve had five (to the Eastern time zone). … So I think just the travel or just being home, that to me is super important. And then we play well at home. So it’d be nice to get home court.”
But here’s the tricky part: After Friday night’s game against bottom-feeder New Orleans (21-55 through Thursday), the Lakers have two games at Oklahoma City next week, a game at Dallas (Anthony Davis and the Mavs still looking to secure a play-in spot) and a home game at Houston before closing the regular season at Portland.
So it’s too soon to predict because of potential movement in both segments of the standings, but the possibilities when the first round begins April 19 include a 4-vs.-5 matchup against the Warriors – which could start in San Francisco just as easily as in L.A. if the Warriors pass the Lakers – or a 3-vs.-6 series against either Memphis or Minnesota, whichever one avoids the play-in round.
“Well, you gotta win,” James said. “I mean, at the end of the day, you wanna win every game.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where we can move up at times, or stay where we (are), or if we don’t take care of business we’re gonna go down. … Every game matters. I mean, they should be that way.”
James, Doncic and Austin Reaves will be under the most scrutiny. But those who do the less glamorous but equally important things could determine how far the Lakers go.
“AR is great offensively,” James said. “Obviously, the Don (Doncic) is great offensively. I can sprinkle in a little bit offensively as well from time to time. But we understand that being organized is always as important.
“Not just for us three, but it’s for the other guys,” he said, mentioning Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes and Jordan Goodwin. “Everybody else, that’s what the organization point is all about, ’cause we can do what we do. We can freelance as much as we want to, still, and it looks great at times. But the organization has to be for the rest of the guys, and we understand that. We know that we have to have our guys in position to be successful.”
There’s no time to waste. The most important games begin a little more than two weeks from now.
jalexander@scng.com
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