The Los Angeles Lakers are on the brink of having an early vacation after suffering another critical loss on Sunday night. Without LeBron James, who sat out to rest his sprained ankle, the Lakers couldn't overcome the Denver Nuggets, 129-118 to fall to 31-47.
With their sixth straight defeat, the Lakers are now two wins behind the San Antonio Spurs for the no. 10 spot in the Western Conference and the last ticket to the play-in tournament. Despite this, Lakers coach Frank Vogel chose to remain fairly optimistic, per the report of ESPN.
“We don't worry about the math. We worry about the next game. Learn the lessons from this game, take them to the next game and hopefully get a win against Phoenix.”
Here's the thing though: The Lakers should worry about the math. And by that, we mean Vogel should be calculating, dissecting, computing, and agonizing until he feels asleep. He should go all Pythagoras and Euclid all over their last four games. Because clearly, when the race for the final play-in spot is this tight, the math matters.
It's also hard to blame Vogel, however, for being even-keeled after their latest loss. It's part of his job to keep the players, motivated, especially LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Rusell Westbrook, and staying on the positive side of things might help.
Unfortunately, the Lakers are facing a harsh reality in their final four assignments, as they are set to face the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Nuggets.
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