In the months before, the frailty of the NBA season seems more abstract, each game representing an equal 1.2% slice of the season. When you’re in the grind of it, the tomorrows eclipse any finality.
Until it gets here — and then all you’re left with are ‘if onlys.’
If only the Lakers had been sharper out of the in-season tournament. If only it hadn’t taken so long to find their shooting stroke. If only they’d held tighter onto the rope against Brooklyn and Sacramento.
If only they’d been a little luckier, a little better.
If only they had more time.
With the end of the regular season barreling toward them, the Lakers played what could end up being their final home game of this season, losing 134-120 to Golden State in a massive matchup Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Read more: Anthony Davis suffers another eye injury as Lakers drop important game to Minnesota
The Lakers are now half a game ahead of the Warriors, the teams now tied with 35 losses and Golden State owning the season tiebreaker.
The Lakers finish the season in Memphis and New Orleans on Friday and Sunday, their postseason fate largely out of their hands.
The Lakers were in great position Saturday after beating Cleveland, moving into eighth in the West and owning momentum to spare. So they thought. Postgame, LeBron James complained about an illness that would sideline him Sunday against the Timberwolves. And any chance they had against Minnesota ended in the first quarter when Anthony Davis left the game after being hit in the face.
Before Tuesday’s game, there was plenty of suspense. It started with word that Davis wouldn’t be able to play because of headaches and nausea. It continued when players inside the locker room said they hadn’t even seen James at the arena, unsure of whether he’d be able to play.
James would be upgraded to available at the last possible moment before the Lakers needed to submit their starters. He scored 33 points in 35 minutes to go with seven rebounds and 11 assists.
He gave the Lakers a quick boost but nothing compared to the execution the Warriors delivered, the team hammering the Lakers with a barrage of three-pointers from all angles.
Draymond Green made five in the first half and rookie Brandin Podziemski canned three straight, all while Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ most dangerous weapon, patiently dissected the Lakers Davis-less defense.
Curry made all six of his threes, not even flashing his “go to sleep” celebration when he made his final shot of the game. He scored 23 points on only nine attempts with eight assists and seven rebounds.
The Lakers, though, grinded their way back from 17 down to get to within five in the third quarter and within nine early in the fourth, with a chance to cut it to six. But like it was all night, their shot-making wasn’t as good as that of Golden State.
The game underscored why the Lakers have been so desperately trying to push out of the No. 9/No. 10 play-in game — a single-elimination, win-or-it’s-over game that, especially now, could end up being played on the Warriors’ home court.
And when you consider the speed in which they can turn a game — Golden State scored 10 straight in the final 83 seconds of the third quarter — the Warriors are one of the last teams anyone would want to see in a true elimination game.
The Lakers got some help around the league Tuesday, with Sacramento blowing a big lead in its loss at Oklahoma City and the Clippers hanging on to win in Phoenix.
They Lakers are going to need more of it, their playoff future slipping through the their hands with a second straight loss.
If only it could’ve been different.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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