The Los Angeles Lakers‘ brutal 134-120 loss to the Golden State Warriors at the Crypto.com Arena has made their path to the playoffs as arduous as possible. With two games left in their regular season schedule, they’re 10th in the Western Conference [per NBA.com] and need favors from their peers to climb in the standings. The Lakers will likely have to face the Warriors or the Sacramento Kings in their first play-in tournament game on the road.
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On Friday’s episode of Undisputed on FS1, Hall of Famer Paul Pierce revealed he isn’t too optimistic about LA’s chances against either team but explained why he’d rather face the Kings over the Warriors if presented with those options. He said,
“This is a nightmare scenario for the Lakers. But on one side, alright, the Kings have punked the Lakers eight out of [the last] nine [times]. But on the other side, I’m gonna say, ‘Do I really want a one-game situation where I face four Hall of Famers who won in this league? Who on any given night can be special, like a Steph Curry?’ I don’t want those issues. There’s nothing intimidating about the Sacramento Kings.”
Pierce spoke highly of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis but claimed that the Warriors’ arsenal is more terrifying in a one-game scenario than the Kings. He also pointed to Golden State’s 120-100 win in Game 7 in Sacramento last season as evidence of Stephen Curry and co. being more adept at navigating past a do-or-die scenario.
The Lakers haven’t fared well against either team this season and are 1-3 against the Warriors and 0-4 against the Kings. However, as Pierce pointed out, beating the experienced Warriors roster in a playoff-type atmosphere in San Francisco is a more daunting prospect than taking on the upstart Kings team in Sacramento.
The Warriors’ roster is littered with playoff veterans while the Kings’ roster, aside from JaVale McGee and Harrison Barnes, don’t have much experience dealing with do-or-die scenarios. The Lakers haven’t beaten the Kings this season, but will undoubtedly prefer facing them over the Warriors in a road game with their playoff berth on the line.
Lakers’ play-in tournament scenario
Before their games on Friday, the Lakers, Kings, and Warriors were all tied at 45-35. However, Sacramento’s 0-4 record against LA and superior division record compared to Golden State’s gives it the edge in the race for the eighth spot in the standings. The Warriors are ninth due to their season-series win over the Lakers.
If all three teams win their remaining two games, LA will face Golden State at the Chase Center and the winner will head to Phoenix or Sacramento to decide which team earns the eighth seed. If the teams remain in their current positions, the Lakers’ reward for winning back-to-back games on the road against two playoff teams from last season would be a first-round series against defending champions, the Denver Nuggets.
As Pierce aptly noted, it’s a nightmare scenario for the Lakers, who’d be hoping that the Warriors and Kings lose at least one of their remaining two games to give them a chance of climbing to eighth in the standings and having two shots of earning a playoff berth.
