Lakers Countdown: Four Games To Go

The Los Angeles Lakers are nearly at the end of their nightmare season, as the Minnesota Timberwolves come to Staples Center on Friday night

The Los Angeles Lakers have 16 more quarters to play in the 2014/15 NBA season, and at this late stage, even winning doesn't exactly hurt the Lakers. If the Lakers lose out, they would still need Philadelphia to win two of its last three games in order to finish in a tie with the 76ers.

The season is so hopeless that even "tanking" doesn't make sense anymore. Three of the Lakers' final four games come against losing teams that would not even be in playoff contention in the Eastern Conference. These final four games do not promise joy or entertainment. They promise bad basketball.

First up, the Minnesota Timberwolves comes to Staples Center on Friday night. The Lakers have lost five games in a row, and the Timberwolves have lost eight games in a row. A loss helps Minnesota more than a loss helps LA, as the T-Wolves are only one game away the New York Knicks, whom hold the worst record in the NBA.

The Lakers started three rookies and a second year player against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, and Friday night should feature the same unless Jeremy Lin's knee miraculously improves. Lin underwent an MRI on his left knee after getting a late scratch in Denver. If Lin ends up on the shelf, he will technically become the seventh LA Laker to be ruled out for the remainder of the season. Nick Young's minor fracture in his left knee has the guard unofficially out for the season, too, which could bring the count as high as eight players who started the season but did not finish.

Of the healthy Lakers available, Lakers coach Byron Scott is playing with a squad most of the public could not pull out of a lineup, assuming the lineup featured abnormally tall and athletic people. When a team nears 60 losses on the season, though, players would probably prefer not to be identified in public.

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As it stands, the Lakers enter Friday's game with 58 losses and 20 wins. No LA Lakers team has fared worse or lost as many games. This team needs two wins in its final four games to avoid becoming the worst Lakers team ever--only the 1957/58 Minneapolis Lakers can contend with the current Lakers.

For now, the 2014/15 group is simply the worst Lakers team since the team moved to LA. This team plays four of its final 16 quarters at Staples Center on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

Only four more games before school's out for summer--school's out forever.

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