Lakers Face a Treacherous 5 Game Stretch

The Los Angeles Lakers will face their toughest stretch of the regular season thus far, starting with the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at Staples Center which will be a Clippers “home” game.

Here is some daunting information regarding the Los Angeles Lakers upcoming 5 game stretch and their opponents:

• The 5 teams are a combined 111-52 which equates to a .680 winning percentage.
• In their 3 road games, those teams are a combined 41-11 (.788) in their home arenas.
• The 5 games will include the 3 top seeds in the Western Conference.
• All 5 teams are currently a 7th seed or higher in the Western Conference.
• The Lakers are a combined 2-5 against their next 5 opponents.
• The Lakers have given up an average of 106.7 points per game this season against the next 5 opponents.

The Los Angeles Lakers upcoming 5 game schedule:

Friday, 1/4/13, at LA Clippers (25-8, 15-3 home, 3^rd in West)

Record vs. Clippers this season: 0-1

•                        Clippers 105 – Lakers 95; loss on 11/2/12

Sunday, 1/6/13, vs. Denver Nuggets (18-15, 8-14 road, 7^th in West)

Record vs. Nuggets this season: 1-1

•                         Lakers 122 – Nuggets 103; win on 11/30/12
•                         Nuggets 126 – Lakers 114; loss on 12/26/12

Tuesday, 1/8/13, at Houston Rockets (18-14, 13-6 home, 6^th in West)

Record vs. Rockets this season: 1-1

•                         Lakers 119- Rockets 108; win on 11/18/12
•                         Rockets 107- Lakers 105; loss on 12/4/12

Wednesday, 1/9/13, At San Antonio Spurs (26-8, 13-2 home, 2^nd in West)

Record vs. Spurs this season: 0-1

•                         Spurs 84 – Lakers 82; loss on 11/13/12

Friday, 1/11/13, vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (24-7, 8-4 road, 1^st in West)

Record vs. Thunder this season: 0-1

•                         Thunder 114 – Lakers 108; loss on 12/7/12

The Lakers have won 6 of their last 8 games but are coming off a bad loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night. The Lakers are currently tied for 10^th in the western conference and need to start stringing together some wins in order to start making their climb up the standings in the Western Conference. The likely hood of the Lakers obtaining a top 4 seed has all but slipped away, but there is still time with 51 games reamining in the season to capture one of the remaining bottom 4 seeds. If the Lakers are planning to make any run at a championship this season they’ll have to avoid any additional major losing strings. Despite the difficulty of their opponents in the next 5 games, they’ll have to find a way to come away with at least 2 wins. If not, it can spell disaster, not just in the standings but more so with the psyche of the team that is currently struggling with both chemistry and confidence.

– Fern Rea “@fullcourtfern” “@raining3sdotcom”