Reality can only be denied until a certain point, postponed until the end - and that was exactly the Los Angeles Lakers' way of dealing with all of its problems, which hinted from the start of the season that the playoffs were not waiting for it.
The 2020 NBA champion came into the current season with a very clear goal - to reclaim the championship crown he lost last season (the Milwaukee Bucks are holding on to it).
The gap between expectations and the painful truth, just before the regular season ends, is just huge.
From concepts of championships, record comparisons, team and individual - as LeBron James demonstrated he could do for himself - the City of Angels has moved to prayers that ask for very little, a place in the playoffs.
And to be precise, the Lakers already understand that they will first be satisfied with a ticket to the play-in, and through it they will try to sneak into the money time games, from which they were eliminated in the first round of last season.
The Lakers have eight games left until the end of the regular season, six of them against the West's Top 6, and do not include a direct battle against the Ninth New Orleans Pelicans in the area.
LeBron and his teammates have not been able to put together two consecutive wins since January, Anthony Davis' recurring injuries also cause the team to limp and Russell Westbrook's stories could fill an entire newspaper, so it all made it clear even to King James that even his play-in team could miss.
If that happens, the Lakers' name will be tarnished, with playoffs also no reason to party.
For those who don't remember, LeBron defined the play-in as follows: "Whoever came up with this idea - should be fired."
Now, perhaps quietly, he is already thankful for the invention that left him little hope.
Were we wrong?
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