California counterparts jockeying for Western Conference playoff positioning meet on Saturday in San Francisco when the Golden State Warriors host the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers come in looking to snap a three-game losing skid, which has put them in a precarious spot in the West’s postseason picture. With Thursday’s 113-110 loss at Phoenix, Los Angeles sits in sixth place, just one game ahead of the Suns for the final guaranteed playoff berth.
Thursday’s setback was the team’s second straight by one score, coming on the heels of a 110-109 defeat on Tuesday against Orlando.
“Our losses are louder than other teams’, because we’re the Lakers and because of the way we lose,” Los Angeles coach J.J. Redick said. “… But we’ve been great, for the most part, in the clutch all year.”
Clutch time is beginning to creep from a game-to-game scenario into the overall theme with 24 games remaining in the Lakers’ regular season.
They are part of a five-team bottleneck in the conference, with just three wins separating third-place Houston — which is tied with Denver and Minnesota in the win column — from seventh-place Phoenix.
Golden State looms in eighth place, three wins behind Los Angeles and Phoenix and 3.5 and 2.5 games back of the two overall. The Warriors are 2-2 since returning from the All-Star break with wildly divergent results.
They knocked off Denver on Feb. 22, 128-117, but followed with a 113-109 loss to a New Orleans team languishing near the West’s cellar. Golden State rebounded on Wednesday with a 133-112 rout of Memphis, in which all nine Warriors who played scored at least 9 points.
Among the group was Brandin Podziemski, who delivered a strong all-around performance with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
“He still, at times, gets himself in trouble, but he’s also a young player who has the ability to do a lot. He’s trying to do a lot, so it’s all with great intention,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Podziemski, a third-year player who is averaging 12.3 points per game. “It’s just finding that balance. I think he’s doing a good job of that.”
Podziemski is part of a corps buoying Golden State’s postseason hopes amidst a bevy of injuries. The Warriors lost Jimmy Butler for the season to a torn ACL sustained in January, while two-time Most Valuable Player Steph Curry remains sidelined due to a knee injury.
Moses Moody and veteran big man Al Horford have helped carry some of the load in recent weeks, each with 20-plus-point performances since returning from the All-Star break.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are playing with their most complete roster of the season. LeBron James is averaging 21.5 points, 7.0 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game, appearing in all but four games since missing the first month of the regular season.
Austin Reaves, averaging a career-best 24.6 points per game, returned from a month-long absence before the All-Star break. The two join Luka Doncic, an MVP candidate posting 32.7 points, 8.6 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game.
Los Angeles was without Rui Hachimura in Phoenix due to illness. He’s doubtful to play against Golden State.
