Without James in the seat, the distraught Lakers raised their hands in surrender after a hasty draw with the Lone Ranger at the American Airlines Center. Given the fact that they were once behind by as many as 37 points, the embarrassment of the scene made the most loyal purple gold fans a little unbearable to look at it.
But life will continue, the most direct impact is that under this and the other, the Lakers even temporarily lost the playoff qualification, and the Spurs with the same record have sprinted to the tenth place in the West with a win-loss relationship. Considering that there are still 7 rounds of the regular season in the closing stage, and there are still variables in the final ranking of each team, it is theoretically possible if the Lakers can be ashamed and brave, then it is not impossible to return to the playoffs and even spell out a ticket to the last train of the playoffs.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media predicted that the probability of the Lakers advancing to the playoffs has fallen below 3%, and even the probability of nearly 3 points has given James and Davis enough respect. The roof leaked in the overnight rain, and the injury of the original Zhan Mei combination made the outside world extremely unoptimistic about Wei Shao, who led the team alone, and as a result, among the three teams of the Lakers, Pelicans and Spurs as direct competitors, the Purple and Gold Team's schedule was the most stressful, which was called the Devil's schedule.
The Lakers and Pelicans have four away games in the remaining game, while the Spurs have three away games. From the opponent situation, the Pelicans can play the Blazers twice, there is no Curry warriors such as the fish belly, the other 3 games against the Lakers, Clippers and Grizzlies; the Spurs also play the Blazers twice and the Warriors once, but the rest of the opponents are the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Timberwolves and Lone Rangers, the difficulty is obviously higher than the Pelicans; the turn of the Lakers in addition to the Thunder (in fact, this season is still a Lakers nemesis) and no Curry Warriors are relatively relaxed, Jazz, Pelicans, Nuggets (play twice), the Suns are not good stubble.
Trying to catch up with the Pelicans is a pipe dream, and the more realistic goal is to win one more game than the Spurs (the Spurs are ranked high in the same win). The ideal situation is that the Spurs can only win 3 games, which means that the Lakers have to win at least 4 games, and these opponents are not easy to talk about. Blame only the first half of the season officially arranged such a sweet schedule, the Lakers can not guarantee a 50% win rate, then out of the mix always have to pay back, to the All-Star Game after the team began to exert force, the Lakers naturally encountered schedule backlash, can not resist.
Further, although the Suns have locked in the first place in the regular season, Phoenix has promised to impact 68 wins, that is to say, the follow-up game does not want to lose one; taking a step back, even if the Suns take a break of 1-2 main players, it is difficult to win the game with the strength of the Lakers at this stage. And the two games of the Nuggets are also quite delicate, whether they can win depends on the layout of the Zhenlong chess game at that time coach Malone, if the Nuggets want to fight for the place in the future, then the Purple Gold Army is better to push the boat along the water and send a personal feeling, if Zhuge Malone wants to retreat into the advance, it will inevitably be expressed in the game, and then the smile can be a big gift.
It is worth mentioning that the game with the Pelicans, there is a very unfavorable news - the 2022 draft pick does not belong to the Lakers themselves, because the future has been overdrawn, so it has long been given to others, the difference is that if the signing position belongs to the Pelicans in the top 10, if it is outside the 10th place, then it belongs to the Grizzlies. So, imagine what kind of power the Pelicans will burst out in order to be able to secure their rankings and try to keep the lottery. For the Lakers, this is a key battle that can not be won, and it must be a bloody battle at the level of playoff confrontation.
So is it realistic to hope that the Spurs will stop the horse from the cliff and swing on the spot? The answer is no. Given the rocket, magic and pistons, the tank's wretched resolve, it's too late for the Spurs to wake up today. Considering the grievances of Popovich and the Lakers over the years, if you want the holy village to raise your noble hand, you must also die this heart early.
The only good news is that Admiral Anthony Davis is expected to make a comeback in the pelicans' key battle, and plenty of evidence points to a promising degree of recovery from the Thick Brow, with a high probability that he will return to work on that day. In the city of angels shrouded in dark clouds, there are only a few lights of hope that can make people shine.
However, even if the thick eyebrow brother fire line returns, can the Lakers win nine out of ten to secure the next play-off ticket? Crispy AD has just returned to be entrusted with heavy responsibilities, fighting a life and death battle, will it suffer a second injury? And getting a playoff ticket does not mean that the next two playoff victories are in the bag, and it is likely to be a wasted effort in the end, so there is a pessimistic argument that the Lakers have a probability of advancing to the playoffs is less than 3%. It's no wonder ESPN suggested that the Lakers abandon their plan to make Davis comeback, sometimes taking a step back and widening the sky. However, do today's Lakers still have room to take a step back in such a public opinion situation?