As the regular season enters its finale, the competition between the league's teams has become more intense, with the competition for places in the upper half of the East and the Western Conference play-offs particularly fierce, and the outcome of each game determines the final playoff matchup and place.
Among them, the West playoff quota competition has entered a white-hot stage, and the Pelicans, Spurs and Lakers will compete for two playoff places in the final stage.
After losing to the Lone Ranger on the road, the Lakers fell to the same record as the Spurs, and due to the win-loss relationship between the two teams, the Lakers fell out of the tenth place in the West, and the Spurs rose to tenth place in the West.
With 7 games left in the regular season, will the Lakers still have a chance?
The fundamental factors that determine whether the Lakers have a chance are the difficulty of the future schedule of the three teams, the state of the three teams themselves, and the winning and losing relationship between the three teams.
Before discussing these three factors in detail, let's take a look at the current record of the three teams, of which the Pelicans are ninth in the West with a record of 32 wins and 43 losses, and the Spurs and Lakers are 10th and 11th in the West, with a record of 31 wins and 44 losses.
The next three teams have 7 games left, and since the three teams are only 1 win at most, it seems that the Lakers are full of opportunities to turn the tables in these 7 games, but this is not the case.
1. The difficulty of the remaining schedule of the three teams
Among them, the Lakers are: Jazz (guest), Pelicans (Main), Nuggets (Main), Suns (Guest), Warriors (Guest), Thunder (Lord) and Nuggets (Guest).
These 7 games can be divided into 3 gears according to the strength of the opponent, the first gear is against the Thunder and pelicans, the winning rate of both teams is below 50%, of which the Thunder is in the stage of pendulum, but before the Lakers faced the Thunder, the record was 1 win and 2 losses, still at a disadvantage.
The Pelicans competed with the Lakers for play-off spots, two teams at the top of the two games, after the Lakers faced the Pelicans with a record of 0 wins and 2 losses, even so, this file of Lakers must strive to win all to have basic opportunities and hopes.
The second gear is against the Warriors and Jazz, the strength of the two teams seems to be good, but the recent state is extremely bad, the Lakers have the hope of completing the upset and stealing chickens.
Among them, the Warriors are in the midst of 3 consecutive losses, and Curry has been absent for a long time, the competitiveness of the whole team is limited, although the Lakers have won 0-3 against the Warriors this season, this showdown is still worth fighting for the Lakers.
The Jazz are in a worse situation, although there is no small record pressure, 2 wins away from the fourth lone ranger, but the team is currently in a 5-game losing streak, the Lakers have previously played against the Jazz this season 2-0, very likely to complete the chicken stealing.
The final gear is against the Nuggets (2 games) and the Suns, the Nuggets are sixth in the West, 2 wins ahead of the Timberwolves behind them, with huge record pressure.
The Suns have locked up the league first, but the overall ability is far beyond the Lakers, unless the Suns have a large number of rotation core players at the end of the season, otherwise these three games, the Lakers want to win very difficult.
Only the home game against the Nuggets has some hope, so it is not difficult to see how difficult the Lakers' schedule is.
The Spurs' remaining seven games are: Grizzlies (Home), Trail Blazers (home games), Nuggets (away), Timberwolves (away), Warriors (Home) and Lone Rangers (away).
Among them, the Blazers have determined that the swing is broken, the probability of the two Blazers winning is very large, followed by the Warriors, the opponent who is currently in poor condition, and the rest of the teams The Spurs want to win the game is also very difficult.
But it's clear that the Spurs have two games with a high probability of winning, and at this point they are already ahead of the Lakers.
Finally, the Ninth Pelicans, with seven remaining games: Trail Blazers (Guest), Lakers (Guest), Clippers (Guest), Kings (Guest), Trail Blazers (Lord), Grizzlies (Lord) and Warriors (Lord).
The pelicans' remaining schedule is far lower than that of the Lakers and Spurs in terms of difficulty, except for the pressure against the Clippers and Grizzlies, the rest of the games have a lot of chances to win.
And at present, the Grizzlies are 5 wins ahead of the Warriors, so at the end of the season, the possibility of the Grizzlies taking a break from the main force is very high, so the Pelicans have an absolute advantage in this one.
2. Three teams in recent form
The Lakers' form has been very bad, and it has barely recovered recently, with 3 wins and 7 losses in the last 10 games.
James is expected to miss the next game, with Thick Brow coming back against the Pelicans, or the Nuggets, with Nunn being reimbursed for the season and Gabriel spraining his ankle.
The Spurs have won 6 and lost 4 of their last 10 games and are currently in the midst of a 4-game winning streak, but most of the teams defeated are fish-belly teams, and the Pelicans have won 5 and lost 5 in the last 10 games, and the opponents they have defeated include the Bulls, Spurs and Lakers, and the state is also dominant.
3. Rules of victory and defeat
According to the league regulations, when multiple teams have the same record, the first three comparison conditions are as follows:
1. Compare the results of each other's confrontation;
2. Whether the group is the first place (whether it is the same group or not);
3. Compare the winning rate within the group (if in the same group)
Between the three teams, the Spurs won 3-1 against the Pelicans, drawing 2-2 with the Lakers, and the Lakers had up to 1 win and 2 losses against the Pelicans (there is still one game left, currently 0-2).
In the same group, the Lakers have the worst record, which means that even if the three teams have the same record in the end, the Lakers will not have a play-off place, so the Lakers can only rely on the winning rate to win.
After a detailed understanding of the three major factors, the state of the Lakers is naturally clear and clear, the team has the opportunity to impact the play-offs, it seems that it is only 1 win, but the actual Lakers are at a disadvantage in the difficulty of the remaining schedule, the current state and personnel conditions and potential small score comparisons.
Therefore, the Lakers big three want not to become a laughingstock, can only return to the game as soon as possible, must win the game against the Thunder and Pelicans, and at the same time impact the game against the Nuggets and Warriors.
The rest can only be seen in the Face of the Spurs, because the Spurs themselves are going to be messed up this season, and the remaining schedule is not small, although it is currently in the best state, but it is far less active in the overall competition for places than the Pelicans.