Time and opportunity are both running short for Luke Walton and the Los Angeles Lakers. Yet, the coach of the NBA's most disappointing team in 2019 is conceding nothing.
The Lakers lost to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night in Staples Center, 113-105. Both teams in the City of Angels call Staples their home, but Walton is about to stay home for the playoffs if he can't find quick answers. The eight-point defeat puts the Lakers five games behind the Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs in the loss column with 18 games to play.
The Clippers (37-29) and Spurs (36-29) occupy the seventh- and eighth-place spots in the Western Conference, with the Lakers (30-34) needing to get past the Sacramento Kings (32-31) before they can entertain any notions of getting the seventh or eighth seed.
Walton knows his team is in deep trouble, especially after losing a head-to-head battle with a competitor for one of these final and precious playoff spots in the West. Yet, with this season crumbling before his eyes, Walton is not yet willing to give up the fight.
Luke Walton doesn't believe the #Lakers are out of the playoff race in the West.
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) March 5, 2019
Kyle Kuzma got banged up in this loss to the Clippers. The eight-point final margin masked how comfortably the Clippers won. The Clips owned a 13-point lead with just over four minutes to go, the result of a highly fluid offense which met little resistance from its opponent. The Lake Show has games against the Denver Nuggets (second in the Western Conference) and the Boston Celtics later this week.
If you think YOU had a bad Monday, the Purple and Gold probably had a worse one.
Luke Walton can talk all he wants about how this playoff race isn't over for his team. Maybe that is narrowly true. However, if the Lakers lose to Denver and Boston in the coming days, March Madness will turn to March Sadness for one of the glamour franchises in professional sports.
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