Commentator Stephen A. Smith believes that the Los Angeles Lakers may not advance past a potential play-in game during this year’s NBA postseason, emphatically stating that they simply don’t look good.
Smith made his comments on ESPN’s “First Take,” and repeated his opinion multiple times that the Lakers simply aren’t playing well, with show host Molly Qerim expressing amazement at the opinion.
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“I don’t even know if the Lakers will get past the play-in game,” Smith said. “The play-in game. They don’t look good. They don’t look good. They don’t look good at all.”
The comments by Smith came after the Lakers lost for the seventh time in their last nine games in a 118-94 Thursday night defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Lakers’ loss puts their season record at 37-29 with six games left on the regular season schedule.
Due to a change in this year’s NBA playoff system, 10 teams from each conference make the postseason, but the teams that finish in the final four spots will compete in the play-in phase.
Right now, the Lakers are currently tied for the sixth-best record in the Western Conference with the Portland Trail Blazers and could conceivably avoid the play-in phase altogether.
However, given their weak play of late and their struggles over the past few months with injuries, the Lakers may very well find themselves out of the postseason very quickly.
On Friday night, they play the first of those six remaining games with a road game against those Trail Blazers.
