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LeBron James had an awful game for the LA Lakers on Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers until tipping in the game-winner at the buzzer. James was at the right place with just the right amount of clock remaining to make the follow-up attempt after Luka Doncic missed the go-ahead floater with under a second left.
The game-winning buzzer-beat gave the Lakers the 120-119 win at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with WNBA star Caitlin Clark watching live. James finished with just 13 points, scoring 10 of them in the fourth quarter. He almost had his streak of consecutive games with at least 10 points snapped.
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Nevertheless, the Lakers are now 44-28 for the season with less than a month left before the playoffs. Let's look at the Purple and Gold's playoff picture as of March 26, including updated standings, remaining schedule and more.
LA Lakers playoff picture: Updated standings
As mentioned above, the LA Lakers are 44-28, which puts them at No. 4 in the West. They have a similar record to the Memphis Grizzlies, but they are ahead based on tiebreakers. They are 2-1 against them in the season series, with one more matchup on March 29 in Memphis.
If the Lakers win that game, they will go ahead of the Grizzlies in case they finish the regular season with the same win-loss record. They still have a shot at the second seed, but things will need to fall into the right places. They have to win as many games as possible to give themselves a chance at having homecourt advantage in the first round.
Here is the updated West standings as of March 26:
LA Lakers playoff picture: Remaining schedule
The 17-time NBA champions have 10 games left in the regular season. Six of those games are on the road, including visits to Chicago, Memphis, Oklahoma City twice, Dallas and Portland. The Grizzlies and Thunder should prepare the Lakers for the postseason, but the other teams can't be overlooked.
The four remaining games at the Crypto.com Arena are against the Houston Rockets twice, and the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans. The Rockets and Warriors have winning records, making the last 10 games harder for LeBron James and company.
LA Lakers playoff picture: Potential first-round matchup
If the regular season ended today, the LA Lakers would be the fourth seed and would face the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. It's a favorable matchup since the Lakers are 2-1 against them this season.
The Lakers are also 7-3 against Memphis in their last 10 regular-season meetings and 4-2 in their lone postseason matchup in 2023.
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