For a considerable amount of time, the Los Angeles Lakers have been confined to the bottom half of the Western Conference play-in tournament bracket. They may not have much longer to advance in the standards; in fact, their window of opportunity may have closed.
They trail the eighth-place Dallas Mavericks by two games and the seventh-place Phoenix Suns by three games with a 36-31 record. The Golden State Warriors, who are in 10th place in the Western Conference, are likewise just one game behind Los Angeles.
On Saturday, Los Angeles will play the Warriors, which means it will be another crucial game for LeBron James and company.
Of course, prior to some other important games recently, at least one Lakers player made similar remarks. The squad has only gone 6-5 since the All-Star break, despite displaying some clear flashes of life in the early part of February.