On Course For Worst Season, Lakers Host NBA Leading Thunder
Steve Nash will miss Thursday’s game against Oklahoma City.
As the NBA gets set to usher in this year’s All-Star festivities, the Los Angeles Lakers face the unenviable task of facing the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.
Tip-off at Staples Center is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.
What looked like a matchup between playoff contenders at the beginning of the season, hence TNT selecting it for its high-profile Thursday night slot, has escalated into a real David and Goliath contest.
While Oklahoma City (42-12, 19-9 road) has tallied the league’s best record, even without perennial All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook, the Lakers (18-34, 8-15 home) are mired in the bogs of the Western Conference thanks to an injury bug that has decimated the roster.
On Thursday night, Mike D’Antoni will field a side without Kobe Bryant (knee), Pau Gasol (groin), Steve Nash (back), Nick Young (knee), Jodie Meeks (ankle), Xavier Henry (knee), and Jordan Farmar (hamstring). Kendall Marshall (ankle) is listed as day-to-day.
That makes long-time Lakers trainer Gary Vitti the busiest man in the Association.
Nash aggravated his back in Tuesday’s loss to the Utah Jazz and was ruled out by the Lakers on Wednesday.
Henry meanwhile will miss another four-to-six weeks, it was announced, after requiring his knee drained.
For those keeping check, this laundry list of ailments means the following Lakers will suit up: Steve Blake, Jordan Hill, Wesley Johnson, Chris Kaman, Ryan Kelly, Robert Sacre, Shawne Williams, and, possibly, Kendall Marshall.
That’s right, seven or eight players. At what point does the NBA instigate a mercy rule and start allowing D’Antoni to raid the other locker rooms at Staples Center? Maybe the idle Sparks or Kings can send some reinforcements.
This plague of injuries sees the Lakers stumbling along a precipice that could lead to the worst season in franchise history.
The Lakers’ worst record over an 82-game season is 30-52, a tally recorded as Gail Goodrich and Jim Price led a team in transition through the 1974-75 campaign. In basketball years, that was a very long time ago.
To put that in perspective, back in ’75 the Clippers were still in Buffalo playing as the Braves; the Wizards were still the Bullets; the Jazz were playing ball in New Orleans; the Kings were splitting time between Kansas City and Omaha; 12 of today’s franchise were not yet in existence; and Thursday night’s opponent, Oklahoma City, was four years away from winning an NBA championship as the Seattle Supersonics.
During the 1974-75 campaign, the Lakers posted a 20-32 record through the first 52 games of the season. This season’s purple and gold side is two games shy of that record.
And if you ask anybody if they think the Lakers can win another 13 games to avoid that worst franchise record, you’d be hard pushed to find takers, especially with teams like Oklahoma City on tap.
The Lakers would make a trade for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the following summer and, as they say, the rest is history.
After missing the playoffs for the second straight year during the 1975-76 season, the Lakers would go on to make 36 playoff appearances in 38 years, only missing the cut in 1994 and 2005. The side would tally 16 NBA Finals appearances during that stretch, lifting the O’Brien trophy on 10 occasions.
It appears the 2013-14 campaign will leave a rare black mark against the NBA’s glamor franchise.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers odds for 02/13/2014
Back to the present, the Lakers will unsurprising be a huge underdog when they take to the hardwood Thursday night.
There’s not much to offer the purple and gold a lifeline either.
The Thunder has won two straight and six of the last seven against the Lakers, including a 122-97 victory on December 13.
The Lakers meanwhile have lost 21 of their last 26 games, not to mention 13 of their last 15 at home. The latter includes six straight. A loss on Thursday will set a franchise record for longest home losing streak.
Sportsbooks currently have the spread between 10.5 and 12 points
After a narrow 98-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, Oklahoma City (32-22-0 ATS) has covered the spread in 12 of its last 16 contests.
The Lakers (28-24-0 ATS), who began the year very well against the spread, have failed to cover in six of their last nine contests and have not covered in their last five home contests.
The total sits between 206 and 207, depending where you bet.
The Lakers (27-23-2) have favored the over while Oklahoma City (27-27-0) have split the over/under evenly.
The combination of the Lakers’ poor defense and the Thunders’ high-scoring offense certainly favors the over, as does recent history. Six of the last eight head-to-head meetings have seen the total go over.
The Lakers and Thunder still have two head-to-head matchups left on the calendar after Thursday’s game. The sides will meet in Los Angeles on March 9 and Oklahoma City on March 13. The games will be back-to-back for the Lakers, while the Thunder will sandwich a game against the Houston Rockets between them.
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