At 43-12, the Los Angeles Lakers currently have the best record in the Western Conference. In fact, it's not even that close. The Lakers are five games ahead of the second-seeded Denver Nuggets and 6.5 games ahead of their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers.
So you're probably thinking that the Lakers can just coast and get to the NBA Finals with no issue. However, things aren't that easy in the NBA.
We already know that the Lakers have lost both of their games against the Clippers this season. Furthermore, the Clippers have added some much-needed veteran pieces in guys such as Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson through the buyout market.
The Houston Rockets have also been coasting as of late, winners of three straight and 7-3 in their last 10 games. In other words, the Lakers are far from a sure thing of advancing to the NBA Finals.
With that in mind, here are four keys for the rest of the season for the Lakers.
Health
This may be a simple thing, but it's the most important thing. If LeBron James is out for any extended period of time, you can forget about a championship. Thankfully for the 35-year-old James, he has remained healthy during the 2019-20 season.
As far as Anthony Davis is concerned, the 26-year-old big man has been dinged up from back injuries and other ailments so far this season. If Davis suffers a serious injury, the Lakers would be unlikely to match up with the Clippers or the Rockets in the NBA playoffs.
3-Point Shooting
When you look at the Lakers' numbers, they're actually rather solid shooting the 3-point ball. They're seventh in makes and they're 13th in 3-point percentage. Again, those are solid, but not great numbers.
Teams such as the Utah Jazz — No. 1 in 3-point percentage with .384 percentage — and yes, the Clippers, are better than the Lakers in this category.
If the Lakers want to get through the rugged Western Conference, they're going to have to improve slightly in that department.
Complacency
While the Lakers have steered the ship in the right direction as of late, they were in a massive slump during the course of December and January. They lost four straight games in December to the likes of the Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic.
They then proceeded to lose to the Magic and in blowout games to the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers in January.
LeBron's teams have a habit of getting complacent during the regular season. It's imperative that that does not happen for this team.
Beating the Clippers
This may just be the regular season but there's a major mental block here. The Lakers were eventually blown out during the season opener against the Clippers and they lost a nail-biter to their rivals on Christmas Day.
The Lakers have a Mar. 8 date against the Clippers and another one on Apr. 9. Considering the Lakers are 0-2 and are likely to match up against the Clippers in the playoffs, it is imperative that they defeat their crosstown rivals during the regular season.
If not, it's hard to envision the Lakers beating the Clippers in the postseason.
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