Getty LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers look on somberly, their playoff chances dropped to near impossible after a game against the Bucks.
With LeBron James and Giannis Antetekuompo both sitting for the night, the Lakers and Bucks game lacked the main star power that makes this matchup appealing. Facing nearly infinitesimal playoff chances heading into the night, a Los Angeles Lakers win over the Giannis-less Milwaukee Bucks was an absolute necessity.
Wagner and KCP turning defense into offense!
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With LeBron out of the lineup, the Lakers looked lost offensively from the jump. While the Bucks didn’t start out much better missing Giannis, they quickly were able to find their footing and took a comfortable lead heading into the second quarter. The Lakers would make things close heading into the half but would be unable to ever go on a run that would overtake the Bucks the remainder of the way.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finally had a big shooting night, something this iteration of the Lakers has been sorely missing throughout the course of the season. Outside of Caldwell-Pope, the rest of the Lakers were extremely inefficient from the field and struggled mightily in the second half. Gifted with a golden opportunity to take on the Bucks without their offensive catalyst, the Lakers crumbled and allowed Nikola Mirotic, Brook Lopez, and Khris Middleton to all score over 20 points in a very well-rounded offensive effort.
Following the loss and heading into the final 11 games of the season, the Lakers do not control their own destiny and need to win out in order to have a shot at the playoffs.
Updated Lakers Playoff Chances
Heading into the night, both FiveThirtyEight’s ELO Forecast and FiveThirtyEight’s CARMELO Projection gave the Lakers less than a one percent chance of making the NBA playoffs. On the brink of mathematical elimination from the postseason, the Lakers needed a big win coupled with a Clippers loss to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Following the loss, the Lakers playoff chances stood stagnant at less than one percent as they inched closer to being officially eliminated from playoff contention. LeBron hasn’t missed the playoffs since the 2004-2005 season.
Lakers Path to the Playoffs
Following the Laker loss, they fell back to being a pair of Utah Jazz losses away from being eliminated from playoff contention. While the Clippers technically sit in the eighth seed, the Utah Jazz are a half-game ahead with an additional game to play. The Jazz and Clippers are the only two teams that the Lakers could realistically catch in the western conference. A lone win from the Clippers would narrow down their only path to the NBA playoffs going through an epic collapse from the Jazz.
How the Lakers doing tonight without LeBron?
Although still mathematically alive in the Western Conference, the Lakers do not have any realistic path to the playoffs and have a better chance of securing the first overall pick than sneaking their way into the playoffs. With a top-heavy NBA draft, loaded free agency class, and cap flexibility to boot, the Lakers will likely look like an entirely different basketball team next season. However, after LeBron’s inaugural season, things can only be described as a disaster in Lakerland.