For Lakers, the end of the regular season is in sight

Los Angeles – It was like an eliminatory match. He sound Like an eliminatory match, with the Golden State Warriors, their style of popular play and the magic of Steph Curry drawing as much roars as the Lakers. Perhaps stronger too.

If it is indeed an overview of the playoffs, it seems that the Lakers still have work to do. But, then, the Warriors are not the only hard in an overloaded west conference.

Thursday evening, the defeat of 123-116 of the Lakers against Golden State probably had its genesis in an aimless drought of more than six minutes, the last 3:43 of the first quarter and the first 2:29 of the second. From this moment, the Lakers played the rest of the rest of the evening.

But games like this can be learning tools, and this is particularly true for both teams in this case. The teams had played once since the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic, five days after this trade on February 1, and he did not play that night. And the Lakers had not seen the Warriors with Jimmy Butler; He collected 11 points in 36 minutes on Thursday, and although he was on an average of 17.5 points in 23 games with the Warriors, just around his average of the season, it is possible that they always determine how to use it as best as possible.

“I (seen) make great acquisitions to change the dynamics of their team before,” said LeBron James, star of Lakers. “I had to go against them when they added Kevin during.

“Jimmy Butler is great. He adds tenacity. He adds a type of championship DNA type. So it’s always the same thing, they always discover it.”

The Lakers with Dononic and the Warriors with Butler are probably the two most intriguing teams of what turned into 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 for as long as you can. From there, after Thursday’s matches, five victories separated second place from Houston at 50-27 and Memphis and Minnesota, which are equal to sixth row at 45-32. The Clippers are just behind at 44-32, and the last two of this list will end in the game.

For Lakers, 46-30 after the loss of Golden State and before playing New Orleans on a back on Friday evening, the possibility of starting at home is particularly attractive. If nothing else, it would mean a chance to find a little stability, especially after a little exhausting planning. The two days of leave between Monday evening’s victory against Houston and Thursday evening against the Warriors represented the first time since March 11 to 12, they had consecutive days. (And these were in the middle of an oriental trip.)

This section started with six games in eight days, remember, in part because of the reassessment of the matches affected by the January fires. And from March 13 to Thursday evening, the Lakers were a match of less than 0.500 to 6-7, but they were still half a game behind the seeded n ° 3 Denver.

“Yes, we would like to be in the first four,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick before Thursday’s match. “We would like to have the land at home (advantage). I think beyond playing well at home, it would be good for our guys to finish in Portland and be able to be at home for nine or 10 days.

“I played in Philly, I played in Orlando, played for the Clippers. It was 13 of my 15 years in the NBA. Each year, you had, you know, two trips on the east coast or two trips on the west coast. We had five (in the East time zone).

But here is the delicate part: after the match of Friday evening against New Orleans on Friday (21-55 to Thursday), the Lakers have two games in Oklahoma City next week, a match in Dallas (Anthony Davis and the Mavs who are still looking to secure a place of play) and a home match in Houston before closing the regular season in Portland.

It is therefore too early to predict because of the potential movement in the two segments of the ranking, but the possibilities where the first round begins on April 19 include a 4 V.-5 match against the Warriors-which could start in San Francisco as easily as in the Warriors pass the Lakers-or a game of 3-V.-6 against Mechis or Minnesota, everyone.

“Well, you have to win,” said James. “I mean, at the end of the day, you want to win every match.

“We have put ourselves in a position where we can sometimes go up, or stay where we (are), or if we do not take care of business, we will go down. … Each game counts. I mean, they should be so. ”

James, Doncic and Austin Reaves will be the most exposed. But those who do less glamorous but just as important could determine how far the Lakers go.

“Ar is very offensively,” said James. “Obviously, the donation (Donic) is super offensively. I can also sprinkle a little offensively from time to time. But we understand that being organized is still as important.

“Not only for the three of us, but it’s for the other guys,” he said, mentioning Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes and Jordan Goodwin. “Everyone is what the point of organization is everything, because we can do what we do. We can freelance as much as we want, and it sometimes looks great. But the organization must be for the rest of the guys, and we understand that. We know that we must have our guys in a position to succeed. ”

There is no time to waste. The most important games start in just over two weeks.

jalexander@scng.com