On a night when things broke exactly their way, the Los Angeles Lakers failed to capitalize yet again.
The Lakers were coming off a terrible loss to the Houston Rockets that would’ve brought them back to .500, but still had an opportunity to make up ground on Friday night when they played the Dallas Mavericks. However, Los Angeles let a very winnable game slip out of their hands and now find themselves outside of the Play-In Tournament.
Lakers fans have been hawking the Western Conference standings hard the past few weeks, and they were ecstatic when teams like the Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans all lost on the same night. Seeds five through 13 are only separated by a handful of wins, and there was some optimism that L.A. could avoid the Play-In altogether with a win over Dallas.
However, that wasn’t the case as the Lakers’ fourth-quarter comeback fell short due to self-inflicted wounds. Up four with under a minute to go, Anthony Davis committed an inexcusable 3-point shooting foul on Maxi Kleber. Kleber nailed all three free throws to whittle the purple and gold’s lead down to one.
On the next possession, Davis was fouled but split the pair of free throws which left Los Angeles with a 2-point lead. On the final possession, Kleber was able to drain the game-winning three and suck the air out of Crypto.com Arena.
The Mavericks now own the tiebreaker over the Lakers, which leaves the latter really up against it. Los Angeles is now the No. 11 seed due to their tiebreaker situation with the Utah Jazz, but do play them two more times before the end of the 2022-23 season.
The Lakers have 11 games left to make up ground, but the odds are starting to look stacked against them.
Lakers standings update
5. Clippers (37-33)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Magic (March 18), @ Trail Blazers (March 19), vs. Magic (March 21)
6. Warriors (36-35)
Upcoming schedule: @ Grizzlies (March 18) @ Rockets (March 20)
7. Mavericks (36-35)
Upcoming schedule: @ Grizzlies (March 20) vs. Warriors (March 22)
8. Timberwolves (35-36)
Upcoming schedule: @ Raptors (March 18), @ Knicks (March 20)
9. Thunder (34-36)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Suns (March 19), @ Clippers (March 21)
10. Lakers (34-37)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Magic (March 19), vs. Suns (March 22)
11. Jazz (33-36)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Celtics (March 18), vs. Kings (March 20), vs. Trail Blazers (March 22)
12. Pelicans (33-37)
Upcoming schedule: @ Rockets (March 19), vs. Spurs (March 21),
13. Trail Blazers (31-39)
Upcoming schedule: vs. Clippers (March 19), @ Jazz (March 22),
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