With the Lakers road trip almost wrapping up they stand at 41-33 and 9th in the west. Trailing the Suns in 7th with 43 wins and Kings in 8th with 42 wins. The 6th seed looks out of question with the Maverick’s winning 10 of their last 11 and sitting with a 44-29 record with only 9-10 games remaining on the season per team.
The path to the 7th or 8th seed is very possible with the way the Lakers have been playing winning 7 of their last 10 and an easier schedule than the Suns and Kings for the remainder of the season. The positives of the Lakers recently have been the sudden rise in offense from Rui Hachimura which can be credited to head coach Darvin Ham increasing his playing minutes. Along with buyout market signed Spencer Dinwiddie providing the Lakers an extra ball handler that provides defense.
The Metrics show that their third and fourth best offensive players Deangelo Russel and Austin Reaves are average defenders at best. The recent lineup trend from coach Darvin Ham has been to have Russel and Reaves play less minutes together and slot Spencer Dinwiddie in for one of them. The team’s defensive efficiency has gone up while the offensive efficiency has maintained.
Maybe the Lakers have finally turned the corner with these changes and recently going on their biggest winning streak of the year with 5 wins in a row. With Lebron James and Anthony Davis considered top 10 players in the league and the recent lineup changes, things are certainly looking up for the Lakers.
Listen in to Fox Sports Undisputed to see additional thoughts and analysis on if the Lakers are title contenders.
