Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 142-130 win against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday amid a 51-point explosion from Luka Doncic, the Lakers find themselves climbing up to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference standings. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, there is still about a month of the regular season left with some key games coming up, and it would be fair for the Lakers to hold on to the third seed in the West standings for the NBA Playoffs.
“I’m looking for a way for the Lakers to get to the playoffs. It’s going to take three,” Windhorst said. “No. 1, you have home court in the first round. Last year they had home court in the first round and they lost. You’ve still got to play good basketball … and you’re probably on the same side of the bracket as the Spurs.
“If you’re choosing to root for the Spurs or the Thunder, you’re probably going to pick the Spurs because of their inexperience overall. They’re not as deep as the Thunder… The next three games are huge for the Lakers. Home against the Nuggets… And then they go off on a six-game road trip. The first two games of that trip, in Houston. With teams all around them wanting to beat them, we’re going to be a lot more about the Lakers after the next 10 days.” Will get to know.”
Currently, the West’s standings from No. 3 to No. 7 are separated by just two games. The Spurs are obviously a better matchup for the Lakers than the Thunder in the NBA playoffs. But last season, JJ Redick cautioned against trying to manipulate seeding for favorable playoff series.
The Lakers have 16 games left in the regular season, four of which are against teams they are battling for playoff position with in the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns. Windhorst is right in that the upcoming stretch will say a lot about the Lakers moving forward in the West playoff picture.
#claim #3seed #Western #Conference #playoff #picture
