Lakers Stumble vs Warriors, Face Tough Stretch

The Los Angeles Lakers were outlasted by the Golden State Warriors in an exciting showdown Thursday. The Lakers, who are 6-9 over their last 15 games, are now suddenly in danger of slipping into the play-in tournament.

They fell into an early hole against Stephen Curry and the Warriors, trailing by 12 at halftime. Golden State’s excellent defense forced the Lakers to be out of sync all game. The Warriors — the No. 1 ranked rebounding team in the league — controlled the glass and took full advantage of second-chance opportunities. A feverish fourth-quarter run from LA cut the lead down to five, but timely shotmaking from the Warriors ended any comeback hopes.

The Lakers — currently 4th in the Western Conference — now have just a one-game lead on the Warriors in the standings. LA’s defense had no answers for Curry who finished with 37 points. Second-year guard Brandon Podziemski had a career night knocking down eight triples.

LeBron James (33 points), Austin Reaves (31), and Rui Hachimura (24) kept the Lakers afloat, but Luka Doncic turned in one of his worst games in a Laker uniform. The five-time All-NBA selection finished with 19 points and was just 6-of-17 from the field. Doncic is shooting 41-percent since being traded and is 1-for-13 from beyond the arc over the last two games. An 0-for-6 performance last night ended his streak of 114 games making at least one three-pointer.

A crowded Western Conference means that just a couple of losses can move you down several spots. As of Friday afternoon, the No. 3 seed Denver Nuggets are just two games in the loss column ahead of the No. 8 Los Angeles Clippers.

There won’t be any time for the Lakers to dwell on the loss. They welcome the lottery-bound Pelicans to the Crypto Arena on Friday. After that, they travel to Oklahoma City to take on the 64-12 Thunder for a daunting two-game set. The second game in OKC is immediately followed up by a trip to Dallas to take on the Mavericks in what should be Anthony Davis’ first game against his former team. The Lakers wrap up their home schedule by hosting the No. 2 seed Rockets on Apr. 11 before ending the regular season in Portland against the Trail Blazers.

It’s a brutal schedule for a team that hasn’t played their best ball recently. And, it could get even worse if they show any signs of fatigue on the second night of a back-to-back against a Pelicans team with nothing to lose.

Coach JJ Redick is still searching for the right gameplan and lineup to best utilize his talented roster. If the Lakers fail to win at least half of their six remaining games, they might be staring at a third consecutive trip to the play-in.