127 replies to this topic

[Gotrings?]

Thats 6 losses in a row by the Houston Rockets. Lakers could've made up a ton of ground with that W last night, thats why its so frustrating for me

It's frustrating for all of us

[BasketballIQ]

Lak

Thats 6 losses in a row by the Houston Rockets. Lakers could've made up a ton of ground with that W last night, thats why its so frustrating for me

One game isn't a ton of ground.

We just have to keep playing better. We aren't going to win every game so, looking at it that way is not healthy

[West Coast]

Nuggets just lost to the Wizards.

[L.A.K.E.R]

Nuggets just lost to the Wizards.

I was watching that game through the 4th quarter. John Wall with the clutch block and FTs to ice the game. He's looked great since coming back from injury.

Well, we were banking on a few of the lower seeds to start losing if we wanted to sneak back into the picture and it's happening right now. Portland with 4 losses in a row, Minnesota with 5, and Houston with 6 in a row. We just need to take care of business now.

[Ham]

we will make it

[UKUGA]

Hopefully we don't blow our re-match with the Wiz in LA.

[MrKnowItAll]

I just wanna see our team win. Idc who's on it. I just wanna win.

[DanishLakerFan]

Too bad we couldn't get the win last night. Just to say it again in this thread, no one here is relying on the Lakers getting to the playoffs by other teams failing. Those contributing to the thread understand the team just needs to focus on winning games and that's the most important thing, but that doesn't mean the fans shouldn't take note of the teams right ahead of us that we should be rooting against.

Tonight's games of teams in our horizons:

HOU @ IND
GSW @ SAS (More of a stretch really but thought I'd throw it in here)
WAS @ DEN
OKC @ DAL

(Red teams are the ones we want to lose tonight)

All of them lost, though GS and Denver probably are making the playoffs.

Tonight, we're looking at:
GSW @ NO
Houston @ Minnesota. We're battling with both of these teams, but Houston should lose.
Cleveland @ Utah. Utah MUST lose.
Milwaukee @ Portland. Portland MUST lose.

Edited by DanishLakerFan, January 18, 2013 - 11:40 PM.

[JGuez]

We got lucky tonight and 2 nights ago that all of our competition keeps losing. Just gotta keep hoping they lose and take care of business on our end. At this rate, it's starting to look do-able.

[lakerfan0307]

I saw an interesting comment on Twitter from an analyst saying that the 8th seed team in the Western conference has on average 48 wins. However, this season, the 8th seed team in the West is only on pace for 42 wins. That helps us big time.

[DanishLakerFan]

I saw an interesting comment on Twitter from an analyst saying that the 8th seed team in the Western conference has on average 48 wins. However, this season, the 8th seed team in the West is only on pace for 42 wins. That helps us big time.

Yeah, those [expletive]ing analysts show that they're clueless.
This season, the 7th seed is on pace to win 43 games - not 48, that have been the average over the last few years. And, that's not even including strength of schedule, win margin and recent record.
With 43 wins to the 7th, we need to go 26-17 the rest of the way (.600) and NOT 31-12 (.720) like some of these "analysts" propose.

Since Hollinger left ESPN the average IQ on the whole ESPN network have dropped significantly. The two worst are Henry Abbott and Tom Haberstroh. They have no clue on advanced stats and use them as if they're the "answer" to everything. Even their trade ideas on ESPN are ridiculous.

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

I don't know why anyone thinks we need 50 wins to get in as the 8th seed. At most we'll need 45 wins. 50 would probably get us 6th or 5th.

[Goku]

I don't care about the pace or whatnot but when you look at a team you can see their ceiling. Rockets are at best 44-45 win team. Jazz same. Portland is at best 40 win team. Their last 15-20 game schedule is too hard for them to get in the playoffs. Denver can win around 46-48 games. Minny is irrelevant. We just need to win 45-46 games at total. But I'd say 47 wins would give us 6th or 7th seed, meaning 30-12. We have some very winnable games. And we can split the rest and still achieve that record. But we'll see.

Our next 9 games: @Tor, @Chi, @Mem, vs Jazz, vs OKC, vs NOH, @Suns, @Min, @Det

We can go 6-3 in that short schedule. The ones I think we may drop: Chi, Mem & OKC. At the end of first 48 games, 23-25 not that bad. If we win even one of those 3, it's exactly .500 . Jim Buss said we need to have couple of 6-8 win game streak to fix the record but it doesn't have to be. We WILL drop one or two games now and then. It's inevitable so we shouldn't get our expectations high, this is the situation.

[soldier4death]

Keeping with current percentages, the lakers would have to win at least 43 games to make the 8th seed, which is very do-able.

[Lakers4Life]

To me it's 13 losses more and we are screwed... We really need to now lose once only every 5 games

[DanishLakerFan]

To me it's 13 losses more and we are screwed... We really need to now lose once only every 5 games

Nonsense!
If we lose once every five games we end up with a 50+ record.
Utah, Portland and Houston are on track to win about 42-43 games this season, and we need to beat that. It'll be tough, but it wont be impossible.

[West Coast]

I don't know why anyone thinks we need 50 wins to get in as the 8th seed. At most we'll need 45 wins. 50 would probably get us 6th or 5th.

Because people compare past seasons and think that it influences this season. It doesn't.

Each year is different.

In 2007-2008, the 8th seed in the West had 50 wins. The year after, the 8th seed had 48 wins. Those years the West was stacked.

People don't account for the landscape changing over the last few years. The 8th seed in 2007-2008, was the Nuggets who had Carmelo Anthony. The year after, the 8th seed was Utah with Deron Williams. Both those guys have gone East now.

In my opinion, the West has its Elite (Thunder, Clippers, and I'd throw the Spurs in there based off consistency). Then the West has its good teams (Memphis and maybe Golden State although they are unproven), then its a drop off. In the East its worse, I'd say you have the Elite in Miami, then the good teams in New York, Indiana, and Chicago, then a drop off.

I do laugh at the so called ESPN "analysts" because lately they have been clowning the Lakers hard on TV, including ESPN's regular anchors. Their analysts keep saying "Well the Lakers need to realize that they aren't in the East where a sub .500 team will make the playoffs". Really? Because when you look at the standings both the 8th seeds in each conference hold a 20-19 record.

The point is that the West isn't as difficult 1-8 as it was three years ago. Two years ago, Memphis got in with 46 wins. This year the 8th seed will probably need between 40-45 wins, so it's still a drop off from the competitiveness. The West is still tougher than the East, but the gap is not as wide as it was a few seasons ago.

[West Coast]

Minnesota leading Houston by 10 in the second quarter

If the Rockets fall, it will be their 7th straight loss. Ironically, their last win came against us on Jan. 8th which put their record at 21-14. If they lose, they'll be 21-21

[JGuez]

Only the end of the 3rd quarter but the Hornets have now taken a small lead over the Warriors. The reason 1 loss is significant is this would be the 6th loss in the month of January making their record 2 and 6 for the month. (4th loss in a row).

I actually think they should end up with a win tonight but who knows.

[Massacre]

7 straight for Houston (bittersweet). Portland down 11 to Milwaukee.

These guys are making it real easy for us.