The place will the Los Angeles Lakers find yourself within the Western Convention standings? Whereas the Lakers might have inched nearer to clinching a playoff spot on Tuesday evening, they fell 136-120 to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in a sport that by no means gave the impression to be on their aspect.
After handing the Thunder their worst lack of the season the sport earlier than, Oklahoma Metropolis held additional motivation on Tuesday. To not point out, this was their ultimate house sport of the yr in what has been a historic season for the Thunder trustworthy. Not solely have been the Lakers enjoying in opposition to Oklahoma Metropolis, however it additionally appeared as they have been in a relentless battle with the officers.
Luka Doncic was handed two technical fouls on this sport. The primary technical got here within the third quarter after the Lakers star was arguing with official J.T. Orr that he missed a foul name when Jarred Vanderbilt was hit by Oklahoma Metropolis. His second technical foul and eventual ejection got here within the fourth quarter with 7:40 left within the sport and the Lakers main 108-107.
The principle drawback with this technical foul that Orr assessed is that Doncic wasn’t speaking to any of the officers or Thunder gamers. As an alternative, he was yelling at a fan within the standings who had been taunting him the whole sport. Whether or not Orr did not like Doncic’s remark or felt it was directed at him, the official took the sport into his personal palms and threw Luka out of the sport.
This led to the Thunder ending the sport on a 29-12 run and claiming a 16-point victory. Many have identified that there’s a historical past between Orr and Doncic, which might have led to the fast whistle in opposition to the Lakers star.
Regardless of the case, Doncic’s ejection instantly impacted the results of this sport, which has a domino impact on the Lakers and the remainder of the Western Convention standings and tiebreakers.
The place Lakers are in West standings
On account of their loss on Tuesday, the Lakers will head into the second evening of a back-to-back in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday needing a win to clinch their playoff berth. Los Angeles is presently 48-31 and leads 4 groups which can be 47-32 by one sport within the standings. These 4 groups are the LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, and Memphis Grizzlies.
Along with clinching a top-six spot within the West standings with a win, the Lakers may also win the Pacific Division by defeating Dallas, plus losses by the Clippers and Warriors on Wednesday evening.
The Lakers are presently the 3-seed within the West and can probably host a first-round playoff sequence.
Associated Los Angeles Lakers InformationArticle continues under
Lakers’ eventualities and tiebreakers
A loss to the Mavericks in Doncic’s return sport to Dallas might presumably result in Los Angeles being tied within the standings with just a few different groups. Nonetheless, the Lakers personal a number of tiebreakers. That’s the reason they will not fall from third place with a loss on Wednesday.
If the Lakers have been to lose to the Mavericks after which lose once more to the Houston Rockets on Friday, they might be at risk of falling out of the highest 4 within the West and on the verge of being within the play-in area of the standings.
The Lakers personal a number of tiebreaker eventualities over their Western Convention foes.
Los Angeles owns head-to-head tiebreakers over the Clippers, Warriors, and Grizzlies. Additionally they briefly personal the tiebreaker over Denver and Minnesota since LeBron James and Co. are in line to win the Pacific Division.
The one situation by which the Lakers can fall out of the highest 4 within the West standings is that if they lose two of their ultimate three video games and see two of the 4 groups tied proper behind them win out. General, the Lakers are on observe to assert both the 3-seed or 4-seed within the Western Convention playoff image.
This matchup with the Mavs on Wednesday will paint a clearer image coming into the ultimate two video games of the season.