Defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers at home, the Los Angeles Lakers pocketed their fourth consecutive victory to enter the top-8 for the first time in many months.
For a long time, fans and experts have always assumed that the Los Angeles Lakers would have to play Play-in to be able to enter the Playoffs. Not stopping there, they believe that the Lakers will be in 9th or 10th place, not 7-8.
However, LeBron James and his teammates are still playing solidly with very good performance from the beginning of March until now, waiting for direct competitors Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans to stumble. And finally, that opportunity has come.
It all started this past Saturday in Boston, where Sacramento lost by 1 point to the Celtics. On the same day, the Pelicans unexpectedly lost to the underrated team San Antonio Spurs, also New Orleans’ fourth consecutive defeat.
On their side, the Los Angeles Lakers just ended a series of 6 away games in 9 days and are somewhat tired. They welcome the top-3 team in the East Cleveland Cavaliers at home with the possibility of seizing the opportunity to promote.
LeBron James and his teammates took advantage of this opportunity perfectly, blowing out the Cavaliers with a score of 116-97 to climb to 8th place on the rankings for the first time after many months of effort.
This is the Lakers’ 4th consecutive victory, also the 9th time they have triumphed in the last 10 matches.
D’Angelo Russell scored 28 points (6-12 3PT) to lead the Lakers. Behind him are two double-doubles from Anthony Davis (22 points, 13 rebounds, 6 blocks) and LeBron James (24 points, 12 assists).
The attack is great, but defense is the key to helping the Lakers win this victory as well as many recent wins. The Cavaliers team only had 43% FG and 31% 3PT the whole match, had 18 TOs and also laid the foundation for two long scoring streaks (18-2 in the 2nd half and 17-0 in the 3rd half) of the yellow and purple shirt team.
“Defense is the key to help us continue to have good matches. The whole team has many individuals who do their tasks well together, defend well and then attack effectively ,” head coach Darvin Ham shared after his 45th win since the beginning of the season.
Now, the Los Angeles Lakers have complete autonomy in maintaining 7th and 8th place in the Western rankings, two positions that have a much greater advantage than 9th and 10th place.
If playing a series of play-in matches in places 7 and 8, the team will have “two lives” and only need to win 1 win to lock in the Playoffs. On the contrary, in places 9 and 10, the team will have to win 2 matches to qualify. Playoffs tickets, at the same time they are not allowed to make mistakes because they only need to lose to be eliminated.
However, the Lakers players still maintain confidence and do not pay much attention to the position on the rankings. Anthony Davis said: “We will focus on ourselves, do well the assigned tasks and from there the victory or ranking story will take place.”
Tomorrow (Monday, April 8), the Los Angeles Lakers will complete a pair of back-to-back matches, welcoming the second-place team in the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves. This is a match that promises many difficulties for coach Darvin Ham’s team.
