Lakers Beat Wizards 111-88, Celtics Ahead Next.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

The Washington Wizards are a catastrophically bad basketball team. So LA's TKTKTTKT win over the Wiz Tuesday at the Crypt won't exactly change the vibe around the team.

The Lakers, at 23-18 and sitting in sixth in the Western Conference, are viewed much more as a team with the second lowest point differential of any playoff/play-in team across the league than they are a legitimate threat to do anything significant in the playoffs. And it's easy to understand why. The win over Washington ran LA's record to 12-1 against teams under .500. A great mark for sure, but it's undercut by an 11-17 mark against teams above .500.

That's the worst percentage among the top 10 teams in the Conference.

And now it gets harder. It starts with the Celtics on Thursday. While Boston is slumping (by their standards), the Celtics are defending champions, and easily one of the league's most talented teams. And whatever focus issues they've had over the course of the year won't be a problem on Thursday. From there, the Lakers play five games on the road (dragging an 8-12 record with them) and then a sixth at Intuit against a Clippers team that thoroughly outplayed them last Sunday. Can they, at the very least, take care of the bad teams they'll see on the trip, like Charlotte and Washington? A struggling Philly team that can't keep a lineup on the floor? What about a mid Golden State team that's basically been .500 at home?

A good team would, at minimum, go 3-3 over the next six. Maybe the Lakers can. Thursday's game could reveal a lot about what's to come. If the Lakers can dial up their focus and execution, that's a sign (win or lose) that the five games following it could be worth watching.

But if they get blown out?

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers do what's needed against the Wizards.

SEGMENT 2: More PT for Dorian Finney-Smith?

SEGMENT 3: Boston next. Then the road trip.

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