The Los Angeles Lakers were swept in the season series against the Sacramento Kings when they lost, 120-107, to De’Aaron Fox’s crew on Wednesday. In doing so, they blew a golden opportunity to move up in the Western Conference standings and possibly avoid the play-in tournament.
As a result, they are in ninth place in the West with a 36-31 record, two full games behind the eighth-place Dallas Mavericks.
If the Lakers still have a shot at finishing sixth in the conference, it’s a slim one. Guard Austin Reaves, who was their only consistent offensive threat on Wednesday, said from here on out, they need to act as if every game is a must-win contest.
Via Lakers Nation:
“We just got to buckle down and treat every game as a must-win, basically just approach it like that. Put our best foot forward and try to win every game we play.”
All too often this season, the Purple and Gold have come out flat, especially against teams they should’ve beaten, and lost, often by sizable margins. It’s arguably the biggest reason they have a substantially worse record than what many expected at this point.
Reaves, however, wasn’t flat on Wednesday. He scored 28 points and hit seven 3-pointers. It was one of his best performances of the year.
Los Angeles will play its next four games at home, beginning with a matchup on Saturday against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, who are in 10th place in the West. The Warriors are one game behind L.A. in the standings, and a loss to them would drop L.A. into 10th, at least for the moment.