The All-Star break has passed, and now the Los Angeles Lakers are preparing for the final stretch of the season.
LeBron James and his teammates are currently ranked 13th in the West with a record of 32:27, two games behind tenth-ranked Oklahoma City, the play-in leader, and three and a half games behind sixth-ranked Dallas.
"Our intention is to be the best version of ourselves every game," said coach Darwin Hamm, who will face Golden State tonight.
"The biggest goal is to reach the playoffs. If we fall to the play-in, so be it, but we want a guaranteed ticket."
It won't be easy, of course: in the near future, the Lakers are expected to face direct rivals for the playoff battles in the West - first Golden State, then Memphis, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Golden State again and Memphis again.
Every loss will mean even more.
"We'll have to help ourselves and win games," Hamm said.
"You can't count on other teams to lose, while we're losing. We'll try to control what we can control."
Before the All-Star break, the Lakers added DeAngelo Russell, Jared Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley.
The first sounds optimistic: "It's possible, anything can happen when you have LeBron and Anthony Davis and the supporting team we have. We'll have to take it game by game."
"We have to win every game," admitted Davis.
"All the games are important and so we will have to treat each of them, like Game 7 in the playoffs. If we do what is necessary, we will give ourselves a pretty good chance."
Westbrook was introduced, the Clippers are happy: "We'll let Russ be Russ"
The premiere will be against Yannis?
"Durant may play in the first one in Milwaukee"
Is the cooperation with LeBron approaching?
"Bronie James is expected to be selected 10 in the draft"
Will they meet the goal?
Ham and Barron (Photo: Reuters)
The one who will not play tonight against the Lakers is Stephen Curry, who missed Golden State's previous five games and will continue to be absent due to the injury to his left leg.
The big star continues his rehabilitation, but only next week he will be checked again - and then it will be decided when he will return to the floor.
"In the near future we are without him," admitted Steve Kerr.
"We won five games without him and I hope it continues that way."
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NBA
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NBA
Los Angeles Lakers
Stephen Kerry
