Two teams struggling to hold position in the Western Conference playoff race hope to extend the other’s misery Saturday night when the Golden State Warriors visit the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Warriors are saddled with their first three-game losing streak of the year and the Lakers are on a four-game skid as they meet for the third of four times this season.
The odds of the California rivals dueling in the playoffs are getting smaller by the day, with the Warriors having fallen almost out of sight of first-place Phoenix, while the Lakers appear headed for the play-in tournament and, at best, a first-round series against the top seed.
Still without defensive ace Draymond Green, the Warriors have won just two of their last nine games. One of those came on Feb. 12 at home against the Lakers, a 117-115 win that ended as LeBron James made just one of three free throws with two seconds left, missing out on a chance to tie the game.
The Warriors also won at Portland on Feb. 24, but not since, while the Lakers rebounded to win their next contest against the Utah Jazz, but no more.
Green has played just seven seconds — a cameo appearance on the night Klay Thompson made his season debut — over the last 26 games. The Warriors, who were 29-8 before a disc injury in Green’s back caused leg pain, have gone just 14-12 since, allowing 110 or more points 14 times.
They’ve been scorched 129-114 by the Minnesota Timberwolves and 122-113 by the Dallas Mavericks on the first two stops of a four-game trip, one that James Wiseman has attended in hopes of making his season debut.
That could happen as early as Saturday, but Green, also with the team, likely won’t play for at least another couple of weeks.
“When Draymond is out there, it just makes everyone’s job easier,” said Andre Iguodala, another Warriors defensive ace currently out of action to rest a sore back. “He’s all over the floor: Defensively guarding 1 through 5, getting charges, blocking shots, every steal, everything.”
Seeing Green on the bench should be comforting for James, who went head-to-head with the 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year a whopping 22 times in four straight duels in the NBA Finals from 2015-18.
James overcame the Green challenge with 34 points and 11 rebounds when the Lakers lost to the Warriors 121-114 at home in the season opener, then had 26 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists in Green’s absence in the rematch last month.
James has continued to score at a high clip — 25 or more points in 26 of his last 27 games — but it hasn’t been enough as the Lakers have dropped four straight in Los Angeles, including a 132-111 drubbing Thursday night in which they were technically the visiting team in a matchup with the Clippers.
The Lakers currently find themselves battling the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs for the final two spots in the Western Conference play-in tournament. It’s not where they expected to be with 20 games remaining, but embattled guard Russell Westbrook insists he’s in it until the final horn sounds.
“I’m not a quitter; it’s not in my genes,” he said after a 17-point effort against the Clippers. “I don’t quit regardless of what the (heck) is going on. I’m a fighter until the end, and if it don’t work, that’s cool, I can live with the results. But I’m never gonna give up or give in because of a little struggle that’s happening this time of the year.”
–Field Level Media
