The Los Angeles Lakers have been through significant adversity over the last two years, but they have come out of it in one piece. Now they have a shot at returning to the NBA playoffs.
They ended their regular season on Sunday by defeating the Utah Jazz 128-117. Although it wasn’t pretty, they finished 43-39.
When Los Angeles started the season 2-10, plenty of people doubted it would finish with a winning record, but that is what it has done — in spite of multiple injuries to key players.
The team played in spurts on Sunday against a Jazz team that was without several of its best players, and, at times, the Lakers looked disinterested. But LeBron James put his foot on the accelerator just enough to make sure the Jazz wouldn’t have a chance of pulling out an upset in the end.
The Lakers fell short of their goal of bypassing the play-in tournament and finishing sixth in the Western Conference. However, if they do win the play-in tournament, they will be a very dangerous team in the postseason — as long as they’re fully focused and motivated while not taking anything for granted.