Sixty-two games into the 82-game 2014-15 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers have accumulated only 16 wins to go along with 46 losses. For the LA Lakers, the good news and the bad news reads the same: 20 more games to go.
On yet another losing streak--the Lakers enter Tuesday's game against the Detroit Pistons on a five-game losing skid--the Lakers have experienced far more losing than winning. However, the Lakers still have games against several teams hovering at or neat the bottom of the league. With two games against Philadelphia, a couple of contests against the Minnesota Timberwolves, a pair of games against the Sacramento Kings and a visit from the New York Knicks still on the calendar, the Lakers may yet go on to avoid the worst mark in franchise history.
While Mike D'Antoni may have set the dubious record for the worst season by the Los Angeles Lakers with 27 wins and 55 losses, the Minneapolis Lakers once had a season where they won 19 out of 72 games. Entering Tuesday's game, the 2014/15 Lakers have a winning percentage of 25.8 percent. The 1957/58 Minneapolis Lakers won 26.4 percent of their games, so the modern day Lakers are on their way to being the worst team in the storied history of the 16-time NBA champions.
Laying claim to five of those championships, Kobe Bryant expects to be watching this group of Lakers stumble to the finish line from the bench. According to Lakers coach Byron Scott, Bryant will be present for all remaining home games. Counting the Clippers "away" game, Bryant expects to attend 12 of the remaining 20 games in the season.
While Bryant will not be traveling with the team, rookie Julius Randle will hit the road for the first time in his young professional career. On Monday, Randle was cleared to perform on-court basketball work without contact. With only 20 games to go, Randle will not be back this season, and the injured rookie's slow and stable recovery making news at this point points to eyes already focusing on next season.
After all, the 2014/15 Lakers are on the doorstep of being officially eliminated from the postseason. If the Lakers lose to the Pistons, Oklahoma City and New Orleans can both lose out and still finish with 47 losses. If the Lakers miraculously win out after losing to Detroit, the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot would be based on head-to-head record. Not surprisingly, the Lakers have already lost their season series against both teams in contention, so, the Lakers can officially start planning early May getaways.
Spoiler Alert: the Lakers are not about to win out, and the Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans should easily win at least one more game before the end. Official or not, the Lakers have been out of contention for the playoffs for about 20 games now. A few "I told you so" types would probably say the Lakers fell out of contention at the start of training came. Starting the season 1-9 certainly didn't help convince the critics.
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In any case, the Lakers have hit the thee-quarter pole, and the chance to win the race is long gone. The team would need to finish 11-9 to tie the 2013/14 D'Antoni Lakers for the worst mark in the history of the LA Lakers. Based on the 62-game sample, once can safely say the 2014/15 Lakers will finish as the worst team in LA Lakers history.
In order to avoid finishing as the worst team in Lakers' history--Minneapolis and Los Angeles--the 2014/15 Lakers will need to finish the season 6-14. While it may not be a slam dunk, six wins in 20 games seems possible. The Lakers will strive to reach the modest goal of not being the worst team in franchise history when they take on the Detroit Pistons at Staples Center on Tuesday night. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
