After their loss to the San Antonio Spurs tonight, the Denver Nuggets have fallen to fourth in the West at 47-30. Taking their place at third in the standings is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have already secured a spot in the NBA postseason.
In what has been an up-and-down season for the Lakers, the team has been battling hard to keep their place in the top six. Fortunately, the Nuggets' loss tonight moved them up in the standings and gave Lakers fans optimism that they might finish strong.
"Lakers control their destiny to clinch top 3, let’s do this and take care of business," wrote one Lakers fan on X.
It remains to be seen if the Lakers can hold their place, but it's important for them to finish on this side of the standings, given who they would have to face if they fell any lower.
"Lakers now control their own destiny as the 3 seed," wrote one fan. "AKA they’re on easier side of the West bracket. Time to lock in on these suckers tomorrow..."
If the Lakers are able to win tomorrow's blockbuster matchup against the Warriors, they will be able to gain some separation for the third seed and push the Rockets for the second spot in the Conference.
"Lakers in the 2-3 bracket name near locks in a WCF if they are remotely healthy," wrote one fan.
Despite some growing pains after the Luka trade, most Lakers fans are proud of the team and happy with how they've rallied together to exceed expectations. LeBron James and Luka Doncic have built some real chemistry together, and the whole team is playing elite-level basketball.
"Lakers were predicted as a play-in team and expected to potentially miss the playoffs, and now LeBron got them as the 3 seed leading them in points, rebounds, assists," wrote one X user.
If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would be in pretty good shape. Their core is fully healthy and would be ready for a first-round matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies (who they have beaten before).
More importantly, the Nuggets and Warriors would be matched up in the first round, which means one of them would go home early. Both teams are viewed as the Lakers' biggest threats (besides the Thunder), and they would only have to worry about facing one of them.
The Lakers would also be far away from the Oklahoma City Thunder, who currently hold the NBA's best record and the leading MVP candidate (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). They would send the Clippers home early, while the Lakers wouldn't have to face them until the Conference Finals.
In many ways, the current Western playoff picture is the ideal scenario for the Lakers. With just seven games left in the regular season, LA is almost across the finish line, but they must hold firm in the final weeks of the season if they want to avoid slipping in the standings.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, they are about to enter one of their hardest stretches of the schedule. After tomorrow's game against the Warriors, they have a back-to-back against the Pelicans before facing the Thunder twice in three days. The final two games are against the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets, who both have title ambitions this season.
With just five games separating the second seed from the seventh seed in the West anything can happen over the next few weeks and the current NBA standings are unlikely to go unchanged. All the Lakers can do is win as many games as they can and hope that it's enough to get them into the top three.
