Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers have the best record in the NBA’s Western Conference, their head coach, Frank Vogel, isn’t ready to declare his team the best in the conference just yet.
Vogel is well aware that the Lakers still have 26 games left in the regular season and that the franchise hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2013. Those reasons help explain his cautious view toward anointing his team with such an accolade.
“I don’t really look at it like that,” Vogel said. “We have a team that is confident that we can beat anybody, but we have a lot of room for improvement. The newness of our group still gives me a great deal of concern in terms of what the stretch run is going to look like, and the battles we’re going to face in the playoffs.”
The Lakers have a 44-12 record this season and are in the midst of a current six-game winning streak entering Thursday night’s game at Golden State.
As opposed to last year’s problems, the 2019-20 edition of the Lakers have LeBron James and superstar Anthony Davis in the lineup to lead the squad.
Last month’s shocking death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant served as a shattering blow to the emotional state of the team.
Yet, after losing their first game after Bryant’s death, the Lakers have since regrouped to win six of their last seven contests.
Vogel is a veteran coach who’s trying to tamp down any effort by his team or outsiders to automatically project the Lakers into the NBA Finals.
Should the Lakers keep up their current pace, they stand a good shot at winning the Western Conference title and competing in their first finals in a decade.
However, Vogel appears more focused right now on playing one game at a time.
