All due respect to the short-handed Warriors. And the league-worst Kings. And the feisty-but-still-mediocre Pelicans.
But the Lakers were supposed to win those games.
And that isn’t meant to take credit away from the Lakers — or the three-game winning streak they’re on after Tuesday’s home victory over the Pelicans.
Matchups against injured teams or lesser competition count in the standings the same as any other game. And in a Western Conference in which spots Nos. 3-6 in the standings are separated by 1 ½ games with teams having 19-22 games remaining in the regular season, it’s clear every win and loss is going to matter.
But what the Lakers are coming off of is a soft period in their schedule that showed their resolve, and important improvements, after a three-game losing streak.
They took care of business.
What’s ahead of them is a season-defining period that’ll help determine the quality of the team they are, starting with Thursday’s game against the Nuggets in Denver.
The matchup against the Nuggets will start a stretch in which the Lakers will play six of eight games against teams above them in the standings, including five against Western Conference opponents: the Nuggets (Thursday and March 14 at home), the Timberwolves (March 10 at home) and Rockets (March 16 and 18 in Houston).
A matchup against the Knicks, one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, awaits them Sunday. Games against the tanking Pacers (Friday) and Bulls (March 12) are also in the mix.
“It’s not something we’re focused on, but we’re definitely aware,” Marcus Smart said of the upcoming stretch. “My experience, we got to focus on one game at a time. And that’s the next game we play in Denver. We don’t have the luxury to look ahead. We definitely got to take it one game at a time and handle business.”
It’s easy to see why the upcoming stretch is so significant.
The No. 3 Rockets (38-22) and No. 4 Timberwolves (39-23) are both 1 ½ games ahead of the No. 6 Lakers (37-24), who are half a game behind the No. 5 Nuggets (38-24).
The Lakers already secured the regular-season series over the Timberwolves with a pair of victories in October, but the series against the Nuggets (Lakers up 1-0) and Rockets (Lakers down 0-1) are still up for grabs. And last season, when the Lakers secured the No. 3 in the West after having the same record (50-32) as the Nuggets and Clippers, showed the importance of the tiebreakers.
Despite the Lakers being in the mix in the West, the external pessimism surrounding status as true NBA title contenders stems from many places, including how they’ve performed against the league’s best teams.
While the Lakers have a 23-6 record against teams below .500, they have a 14-18 record against teams .500 or better, which is the worst mark among the West’s top six teams. Making matters worse is not only how they’ve fared against the league’s top teams but how uncompetitive those games have been so far.
They’re 5-12 against the teams in the top 10 in point differential, according to Cleaning The Glass. And their net rating of minus-12.9 in those games, which is the league’s fourth-worst mark, demonstrates how the Lakers have consistently been blown out when facing the league’s best.
But the Lakers have a chance to change the narrative about their season: that they’re more than a team that can beat up on lesser competition but can’t hang with the best.
And the opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time: They’re the healthiest they’ve been. Their morale is high.
“Could be a perfect time or not,” Luka Doncic said. “Just gotta approach those games with the same mentality. Obviously, every one of those teams has great players. They’re winning games. So we need to go game by game first of all and then just try to win all those games.”
Smart said Tuesday’s win over the Pelicans, which they won despite not playing their best, could “change the trajectory for teams and players.”
Smart added: “This win, the fashion that we won it, kicks our confidence up.”
Now, it’s time for the Lakers to prove it.