Lakers’ game vs. Warriors has significant postseason implications

Lakers forward LeBron James handles the ball as Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry defends during the second half of a game last month at Crypto.com Arena. The teams meet again Tuesday night in a game that will help determine both teams’ postseason fate and who might host a potential play-in meeting. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

PUBLISHED: April 8, 2024 at 4:27 p.m. | UPDATED: April 8, 2024 at 4:27 p.m.

LOS ANGELES — Because of where they’ve been positioned in the standings, the Lakers have had a playoff-level focus for several weeks.

That will be magnified in their final regular-season home game when they host the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena – a matchup with significant postseason implications.

After Sunday’s 127-117 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in which LeBron James wasn’t available because of flu-like symptoms and Anthony Davis only played the first quarter after aggravating a left eye injury, the ninth-place Lakers (45-34) are just 1½ games ahead of the 10th-place Warriors (43-35) with one week left in the regular season.

Davis aggravated the eye injury he suffered in the March 16 home loss to the Warriors after getting hit by Golden State rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis, which led to Davis only playing first-quarter minutes in that game, too.

His official injury was a corneal abrasion.

“I just couldn’t see,” Davis said of the original eye injury. “The corneal abrasion was actually right in the middle of my eye. It wasn’t like off to the side. So anytime I looked it was blurry. My eye was swollen. I thought my eye was open. But it wasn’t. It kept watering. It just felt like sand was in my eye. So it was just better closed and I couldn’t really see.

“The swelling went down. I just kind of stayed in darkness. And then went to go see the doctor and some more things that we ended up finding out. But it was really tough for me to see.”

Davis played in the Lakers’ next game after originally suffering the eye injury, a March 18 home win over the Hawks. He’s expected to be available against the Warriors on Tuesday. James’ status isn’t known.

“Just get healthy first,” forward Rui Hachimura said. “We’ve got to recover. We’ve been on the road and had a back-to-back right away. We got to rest [Monday]. That’s going to be the key. We’ve gotta bring the energy back.”

The Lakers have a 2-1 lead over the Warriors in the season series.

If they win on Tuesday, they’ll own the tiebreaker, which is relevant if both teams finish with the same regular-season record.

If the Warriors win Tuesday and the regular-season series ends tied two apiece, then the Lakers would be dependent on the Warriors to lose at least one of their final three games – or any of the teams above them in the standings – to avoid ending the regular season 10th in the West. The Warriors would clinch the tiebreaker over the Lakers with a win on Tuesday because they’d have a better in-division record.

Both teams have clinched top-10 records in the West and are guaranteed to at least be in the play-in tournament.

But Tuesday’s matchup will significantly impact how much higher either team can climb in the standings, and who will end the season at No. 10 (and would then need to win two road games just to earn the No. 8 seed).