Lakers

LeBron James has nine of his 37 points in overtime as the Lakers beat Utah for their their fourth consecutive win to tie Clippers with a 41-38 record.

But postgame in the Lakers locker room in Utah, there weren’t any clear indicators about who would be able to play in that game on the second night of a back-to-back. Both teams are a half-game behind the fifth-place Warriors. against the Clippers. “Trap” is a word players in the Lakers’ locker room used pregame and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, it was no longer just a prediction. The Lakers, citing precaution, didn’t have point guard D’Angelo Russell because of left foot soreness. Horton-Tucker relentlessly attacked the Lakers.

LA Clippers guard Russell Westbrook will face the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night for the first time since being traded away earlier this season.

D'Angelo Russell has been ruled out for Tuesday's game.

D'Angelo Russell has been a big boon for the Los Angeles Lakers ever since they acquired him in the Russell Westbrook trade in early February.

From October 18, 2022, through March 4, 2023, the Lakers never even managed to crack the top 10 in the conference standings, essentially making them a lottery ...

With four games left on their schedule, the Lakers appear to have a strong chance to escape the play-in tournament and finish in the top six in the Western Conference. The Lakers and Pelicans are currently 6-5 against the group, but a Lakers win would push them to 7-5 and give them the highest seed. That means that for the Lakers to actually pass the Suns in the standings, they would have to win all four of their remaining games while the Suns would have to lose all four of their remaining games. - In a three-way tie between the Lakers, Pelicans and Warriors, the Lakers would receive the highest seed by virtue of their superior head-to-head record over both teams. - In a three-way tie between the Lakers, Clippers and Pelicans, the Pelicans are currently set to receive the highest seed. The three teams worth covering here, from the Lakers' perspective, are the three other 38-win teams in the standings: the Clippers, the Warriors and the Pelicans. The Suns are 9-5 in the division while the Lakers are 5-9. - The Lakers still have two games left against the Jazz and one against the Suns, and if they win all of those games, they can tie both in their season series. If the Lakers win that game along and make up two more games in the standings in the three remaining contests each team has outside of their head-to-head bout, they'd be tied at 43-39 at the end of the season without a settled head-to-head tiebreaker. The seventh, against Utah, will either end with Utah winning both games and clinching the tiebreaker or with the Lakers finishing ahead of the Jazz in the standings. [Nuggets](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/DEN/denver-nuggets/), [Grizzlies](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/MEM/memphis-grizzlies/) and [Kings](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/SAC/sacramento-kings/) have already won too many games for the Lakers to catch them. The Blazers, [Spurs](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/SA/san-antonio-spurs/) and [Rockets](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/HOU/houston-rockets/) have lost too many games to catch the Lakers.

Your seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers are currently tied in the loss column (38 defeats) with three other Western Conference clubs: the 41-38 Los Angeles ...