The Lakers are still mathematically alive in the race for the 2019 NBA playoffs, but not even IMF agent Ethan Hunt would accept this mission. After losing to the Nuggets on Wednesday night, the Lakers are 6.5 games out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with only 17 games left on their regular season schedule. This latest blow came only days after a brutal defeat at the hands of the Clippers, one that prompted reporters to ask LeBron James what he expects the team to do when — not if — it is eliminated from postseason contention. MORE: LeBron, Lakers have one inexcusable reason for missing playoffs "Continue to be a professional, and be as great as you can be every single night, no matter the circumstances," James said. "'Cause someone is always watching." Asked what he expects from the team's motication if the Lakers get eliminated, LeBron said he doesn't know, but said for himself: "Continue to be a professional, and be as great as you can be every single night no matter the circumstances. 'Cause someone is always watching." pic.twitter.com/5HT0gRDoSY — Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) March 5, 2019 Notice that James didn't scoff at the question or shut it down by informing media members the Lakers will make the playoffs against all odds. He seems to be resigned to the fact that Los Angeles is already done, and well, he's right. The Lakers are buried in the Western Conference standings. If we weren't talking about the Lakers and LeBron, this team would have been written off before falling to the Clippers. That loss just reinforced what was already known. Los Angeles is now closer to the Grizzlies at No. 14 than the Spurs in the No. 8 slot. The Lakers are down to a less than one percent chance of reaching the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight's latest projections, the same odds as the Pelicans, a team that has placed its top-five player on a minutes restriction. Playoff seed Team Games back 1. Warriors — 2. Nuggets 2 3. Rockets 5 4. Thunder 5.5 5. Trail Blazers 6 6. Jazz 8 7. Clippers 8 8. Spurs 8.5 — Kings 12.5 — Timberwolves 15 — Lakers 15 — Pelicans 16.5 — Mavericks 18 — Grizzlies 19 — Suns 30.5 The Clippers and Spurs already own tiebreakers against the Lakers. The battle for LA was important not only because the Lakers needed to rack up as many wins as possible, but also because of the tiebreaker implications. NBA tiebreakers are first determined by head-to-head records, then by division records. The Lakers could even the season series at 2-2 with one more head-to-head game remaining on April 5, but the Clippers (11-3) are far superior to the Lakers (7-6) within the Pacific Division. As for the Spurs, San Antonio already took three of the four matchups against the Lakers, so that head-to-head tiebreaker is gone. The Lakers' remaining schedule is brutal. It's a rough road ahead. The Lakers face the 10th-toughest remaining schedule, according to Tankathon, and only five of their final 17 games come against teams under .500. Date Team Record March 9 vs. Celtics 40-26 March 12 at Bulls 19-48 March 14 at Raptors 47-19 March 15 at Pistons 33-31 March 17 at Knicks 13-52 March 19 at Bucks 49-16 March 22 vs. Nets 34-33 March 24 vs. Kings 32-32 March 26 vs. Wizards 27-38 March 27 at Jazz 37-28 March 29 vs. Hornets 30-35 March 31 at Pelicans 30-38 April 2 at Thunder 40-26 April 4 vs. Warriors 45-20 April 5 at Clippers 38-29 April 7 vs. Jazz 37-28 April 9 vs. Trail Blazers 39-26 Meanwhile, the Clippers (18th-toughest remaining schedule) and Spurs (21st) travel relatively easy roads down the stretch. The latest projections show the last two teams in the West playoff field will finish around 44-45 wins, meaning the Lakers would need to go 14-3 for the mere possibility of reaching the first round. (And that's without mentioning the Kings or the additional help the Lakers need.) Good luck with that. Vegas sportsbooks are already operating as though the Lakers have been eliminated. Yep, we're all done here. Vegas knows.<doc-sep>They needed this one. They had this one. LeBron James dunked through two defenders, then nailed a three-pointer over all of them, and suddenly the Milwaukee Bucks were back on their lightning-quick heels, the Lakers leading by two with barely two minutes left. They stumbled over this one. They blew this one. Rajon Rondo threw a lousy pass. James backed into a charging foul. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope threw a horrible inbounds pass. The Bucks made layups. The Bucks hit free throws. The Bucks hit threes. The Bucks made them pay. Advertisement On the verge of an energizing victory over the team with the best record in the NBA, the Lakers showed again Friday night how they could finish this season as the biggest disappointment in the NBA with a 131-120 loss at Staples Center. They ended what was once a splendid evening being outscored 15-2 in those final minutes, and when the bulldozing stopped, it felt not just like the end of a game, but possibly the end of a season. The Lakers have 20 games remaining, and they are 3 ½ games out of the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, and they have to jump over two teams to get there, and do you think they can pull it off? At this point, it appears not. After a perfect chance for a stolen moment was handed away Friday night, it appears this mountain might finally be too high. The light at the end of that 30-32 tunnel might finally be too distant. How many wins is it going to take to make the playoffs? In the last five years, the eighth seed in the Western Conference has averaged 44 wins. That means the Lakers, with their 30 wins, are going to have to reasonably go 14-6 to get there. That’s 14 wins. In five weeks. With a team whose most recent 14 wins required three months. Do they have 14 wins in them? From here, it doesn’t look like it. At the end of Friday night, it didn’t feel like it. Looking at their schedule, if they beat teams they should beat with James being James and the rest of the guys playing decently, they can get 11 wins. That’s if everything goes right. Advertisement That means they need to pull three extraordinary wins out of their pocket and can they do that? Those three wins would have come in places like Toronto, Utah or Oklahoma City, or at home against the likes of Golden State, Utah, Denver or Boston. One of those wins could have been Friday night, but in the end, it wasn’t, and that hurt. It hurt because Brandon Ingram had another brilliant game with 31 points, giving him an average of 29 points per game in the five games since the All-Star break. It hurt because James put on his usual fourth-quarter push to also finish with 31 points, and Rondo was occasionally spectacular with 20 points and nine assists. Advertisement And, yeah, it hurt because the Bucks’ most-valuable-player favorite, Giannis Antetokounmpo, was held to 16 points with a pressing Lakers defense that finally worked. Except it didn’t work on everybody, as Eric Bledsoe scored 31 and Malcolm Brogdon added 21 and they pretty much went to the rim at will. These Lakers just don’t have the connectivity to play clutch defense, or the focus to put together 48 powerful minutes, or the manpower to finish. This space has previously placed most of the blame for this messy season on James and his lack of personal investment in everything from the Lakers’ game plan to their locker room culture. But Friday night’s disappointment was on everybody, from James to coach Luke Walton to the front office, which constructed a roster that just can’t consistently compete at a playoff level. To be exact, three turnovers and at least that many defensive breakdowns, all in those final minutes. Advertisement But there are not a lot of games left, and maybe none of them will offer the Lakers the shining opportunity of Friday night. The collapse began with Rondo’s miscommunication with James that led to a pass that flew out of bounds with 2:36 remaining and the Lakers leading by two. Bledsoe responded with a driving layup against a fouling Kyle Kuzma that became a three-point play. “The one thing defensively, we did a poor job of was Bledsoe and Brogdon,’’ said Walton. “We couldn’t keep them in front of us.’’ Sure enough, moments later, after James was called for an offensive foul after moving some bodies under the basket, Brogdon got back to the rim and converted two free throws after being fouled by Rondo. Advertisement Even then, the Lakers only trailed by three, but on the ensuing in-bounds play, even after a timeout, Caldwell-Pope couldn’t find an open man. His pass was stolen by Ersan llyasova, leading to a Brogdon three-pointer that was the dagger. “I was just looking for someone to get open,’’ said Caldwell-Pope. “I could’ve run the baseline but I didn’t.’’ He also could have called timeout but didn’t, so it appears the heat should be on him, although Walton stepped in and took the blame. “I’ll take that responsibility,’’ Walton said. “We called timeout to get a play…we took for granted to get the ball in-bounds..they came with the press and we didn’t get open.’’ Advertisement Now it’s on to Phoenix Saturday night to play the tanking Suns for a must-win game, even more desperate in the wake of Friday night’s should-not-have-lost game. Sign up for our daily sports newsletter » bill.plaschke@latimes.com Get more of Bill Plaschke’s work and follow him on Twitter @BillPlaschke<doc-sep>
The Clippers beat the Lakers, 113-105, in what felt like an elimination game for LeBron James and his teammates. In defeat, the Lakers lost their tiebreaker against the Clippers, meaning they’d need to outright pass two of the three teams (Clippers, Spurs, Kings) ahead of them to earn a playoff spot. They only have 18 games left to play and trail the No. 8 seed Spurs by 5.5 games. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index gives the Lakers less than a 0.1 percent chance of making the postseason, which is the same odds it gives the Knicks. It’s over. The Lakers season has seen modest highs and embarrassing lows in what will be remembered by most as a disastrous start to James’ career in LA. He hasn’t missed the postseason since he was 20 years old. What happened against the Clippers? The Lakers’ loss wasn’t an abomination. The team played close for 3.5 quarters before succumbing to the problems that have plagued their entire season: injuries, poor shooting, and an overall lack of supporting talent around James. Brandon Ingram sat from shoulder soreness, Lonzo Ball missed his 17th straight game with an ankle sprain. LA withered without them. The Lakers made 28 percent of their three-point attempts, 42 percent of their overall shots from the field, and were so short-handed they played G League call-up Alex Caruso five meaningful minutes. Rajon Rondo’s triple-double and James’ line of 27 points, eight rebounds, and six assists weren’t enough, as the rest of the non-Josh Hart roster complements faltered. Patrick Beverley was a nuisance on the defensive end all night with five steals, and he showed no backing down, either. The Lakers have become easy prey, and those out to get revenge against a weak James-led team have struck with a high success rate. Patrick Beverley has an extreme lack of chill when he guards superstars. (via @LAClippers) pic.twitter.com/SdFswthNT9 — SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 5, 2019 A switch was never turned in LA. So now what? James said he’d need a lot of convincing to sit the rest of the season out, but it may be realistic and what’s best at this point. It would take a catastrophic collapse from two playoff-contending teams for LA to sneak into the playoffs, and at this point, saving his health for next year is more important. “That would take a lot of convincing from Luke [Walton] on up,” James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin on the prospect of ending his season early. “Unless I’m hurt, I’m not sitting games.” But he didn’t rule out the possibility entirely. “You kind of look at the rest of the games, and look at the percentages of what’s going on there in the future, and see what makes more sense for not only me but the team itself as well,” James told ESPN. At that point, resting Ingram and Ball would make sense too, and it’s probably close to being time to pull back on minutes for the veterans on one-year contracts to experiment with the kids deep on the bench. More time for 2018 first-round pick Mo Wagner and Hart, for example, though Hart is also fighting injuries. This Lakers season is all but mathematically over. It’s hard to grasp just how bad it really turned out.