LOS ANGELES — The stakes for the Lakers in Tuesday night’s marquee matchup against the Golden State Warriors were clear.
Win and they’d control their fate to secure at least the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference, with the possibility of moving up the standings with a strong close to the season. Lose and they’d be dependent on external help to avoid finishing the regular season in 10th place.
The latter are the circumstances the Lakers (45-35) now face after their 134-120 loss to the Warriors (44-35), their final home game of the regular season.
The Warriors’ win moved them within one-half game of the Lakers in the standings, with Golden State now holding the head-to-head tiebreaker despite the regular-season series ending tied at 2-all because the Warriors have a better in-division win-loss record. The Warriors now have the inside track to home-court advantage if the teams meet in a potential 9-10 play-in game next week.
LeBron James, who has been dealing with flu-like symptoms for the last few days, tried to will the Lakers to a victory despite being under the weather, recording 33 points (14-for-22 shooting), 11 assists and seven rebounds in 35 minutes.
Austin Reaves had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Rui Hachimura added 20 points (7-for-21 shooting), 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. D’Angelo Russell struggled to 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
James arrived at the arena a little an hour before tipoff and didn’t go through an on-court warmup on the team’s home court.
But the challenge of beating the Warriors, who have won eight of their last nine games, without Anthony Davis was too difficult for the Lakers to overcome. Davis sat out due to the aftereffects (headache, nausea) of being hit in the head by Minnesota’s Kyle Anderson in the Lakers’ loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday.
The Lakers missed a chance to move into eighth place past struggling Sacramento (45-34), which blew a big second-half lead and lost to…
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