LeBron James on the Lakers’ attitude entering the play-in tournament
The Los Angeles Lakers are entering the NBA’s new play-in tournament as the seventh seed in the Western Conference and are preparing for a one-game showdown against the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors.
When the condensed regular season initially tipped off, the Lakers didn’t envision finishing this low in the seeding war.
With the squad headlined by LeBron James and Anthony Davis and newly acquired additions Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol, the Lakers seemed poised to return to the peak of the NBA hierarchy entering the playoffs, seeking to defend their recent title.
But with the season embroiled in the coronavirus pandemic and games materializing in quick succession, Los Angeles’ roster became a high-profile casualty of health and safety protocol issues and injuries that set them back midseason.
When Davis went down mid-February, the Lakers had a 21-7 record and were on pace to finish as at least a top-two seed. But L.A. gradually slipped from the top, as it didn’t have the power to replace Davis’ production.
Los Angeles’ woes were exacerbated when James went down with an ankle sprain in late March, pushing the Lakers into a battle for either the fifth or sixth seed, primarily with the Dallas Mavericks.
But the Portland Trail Blazers caught fire, catching up to the Lakers in the standings. Los Angeles lost vital games to both Portland and Dallas, dropping them to the seventh seed with scarce control of their destiny.
James and Davis made their anticipated returns toward the end of the season, but there wasn’t enough leeway in the schedule to slip from the play-in tournament’s grasp.
With the regular season behind them, the Lakers are beginning to understand the context of their situation, discerning the challenge ahead of maintaining a healthy roster and taking on tough opposition.
James is at the forefront, saying he’s not looking at where L.A. is in the standings and how there are positives to extract now that the roster is finally healthy, via Mark Medina of USA TODAY Sports.
“I don’t look at our seeding. It doesn’t matter,” James said. “Obviously, we know we wanted to play a lot better this season but injuries took a toll on our team. We’re finally starting to get whole and we’re starting feel a little bit better on our situation.”
Veteran Jared Dudley, who recently returned after a serious knee injury, explained the Western Conference seeding further after the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers seemingly lost games on purpose to avoid a first-round matchup with L.A., despite obtaining higher seeds.
“If I was one of those teams, I’d want to play us early. I would want to play a LeBron James that is coming off an ankle injury where they’re trying to find their chemistry,” Dudley said. “You think we’re going to be better later or better now? The more chemistry and more games, the stronger we get. We’re not going to get worse later on. So if I was a team, I’d want to play us right away.”
Wednesday’s game against Golden State has seeding and matchup implications for Los Angeles. If Los Angeles wins, it will face the Phoenix Suns, the second seed.
If L.A. loses, it must face the winner of the Memphis Grizzlies-San Antonio Spurs game for the eighth seed. The eighth seed will face the Utah Jazz.
A healthy Lakers team can trade punches with anyone — it just has to handle business Wednesday first.
