Los Angeles Lakers tiebreak scenarios for the NBA Playoffs
The Lakers are in a late playoff push but with teams having very close records, it may come down to the tiebreakers. Here are all the scenarios.
After having a very strange season, the Los Angeles Lakers have been on fire. Since Feb. 1 the Lakers have had the fourth-best record in the NBA at 21-10 and they have also had the second-best offensive rating in that same time frame, just behind the Boston Celtics.
The Lakers went from being the ninth seed at a record of 25-25 on Feb. 1 to now having a record of 45-35 and ... are still the ninth seed. The fact that the Lakers have been one of the best teams in the NBA for the last two months and haven't moved in the standings proves how good the teams in the Western Conference have been.
Los Angeles has two games left in the regular season against the Grizzlies, and Pelicans. With those three games, they have the potential to move up to the sixth seed or finish as low as the 10th seed. In the case of the L.A. finishing with the same record as another team, it will come down to the tiebreakers.
The moving parts of the standings at this point in time include the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, and Golden State Warriors. Let's take a look at the Lakers tiebreakers with those four teams.
The Lakers tiebreaker Scenarios:
Opponent | Head-to-Head record | Tiebreaker |
|---|---|---|
Phoenix Suns | 3-2 | Lakers |
New Orleans Pelicans | 2-1 | Lakers* |
Sacramento Kings | 0-4 | Kings |
Golden State Warriors | 1-3 | Warriors* |
The Lakers currently hold the tiebreaker over two teams, the Suns and Pelicans. The Lakers last game of the season is against the Pelicans, if the Pelicans win that, they will hold the tiebreaker because they have the better conference record. If the Lakers win they hold the tiebreaker. The Lakers had a chance to take the tiebreaker from the Warriors with a win on Apr. 9 but couldn't pull it off.
With the Lakers going 0-4 against the Kings, they can't hold the tiebreaker, so if they wanted to past the Kings in the standings, the Kings would have to have a worse record than them.
The Lakers best path to the sixth seed would be to go a perfect 3-0 and finish with a record 48-34. This would mean the Warriors would automatically stay behind them. They would need the Kings to go 2-2 in their last four games finishing with a record of 47-35. The Pelicans and Suns would have to go 2-2, both finishing with the same record as the Lakers, but the Lakers would hold the tiebreaker over both and finish as the sixth seed.
The Kings remaining schedule is against the Thunder, Pelicans, Suns, and Trailblazers. The Pelicans play the Trailblazers, Kings, Warriors, and Lakers. The Suns play the Clippers twice, Kings, and Timberwolves. The Warriors play the Lakers, Trailblazers, Pelicans, and Jazz.
The odds are low of the Lakers getting that sixth seed, but if they go undefeated in their last three games, they hold the tiebreaker over three of those teams, and anything could happen after that.
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