The Lakers took a lot of the buzz out of Friday’s NBA Cup group play finale with their victory over the Clippers on Tuesday. With that win, they sealed their spot in the quarterfinals, topping a group that, realistically, is about as mad as they come this season.
However, that doesn’t make Friday’s game against the Mavericks entirely meaningless as there are still some stakes attached to it.
For one, this is still a regular season game, so wins matter in that regard, obviously. The only game during the entirety of the NBA Cup that would not count toward the Lakers’ regular season record would be the final, should they advance that far.
Outside of that, though, they can still play for the chance to host the quarterfinal. While the semi-final and final take place in Las Vegas, the quarterfinal is hosted by the two highest seeds in each conference. Assuming the Lakers win, they will lock themselves into hosting their knockout-round game.
In the Western Conference, the Lakers are the only team that has clinched their group heading into Friday’s games. The other two groups feature winner-take-all games to determine the victor.
In Group A, the Thunder will take on the Suns with both teams 3-0 in group play. OKC will be favored and that game and, should they win, will almost certainly be the top seed thanks to their staggering +71 point differential through three games.
In Group C, the Spurs and Nuggets play with the winner taking that group as well. Assuming the Lakers and Thunder win, the purple and gold would host the winner of this game in their quarterfinal matchup.
Earlier this season, they won a slog of a game against the Spurs, 118-116. They have not yet met the Nuggets with the first meeting coming in late January.
If the Lakers lose on Friday, they could still host a quarterfinal game, but it would come down to point differential. Heading into the night, LA has the second-best point differential in the Western Conference at +36.
Because of OKC’s absurd point differential, they’ve effectively locked themselves into a knockout round spot. Even in the event of a loss, they would have the best point differential of the second-place teams, barring a huge blowout loss to Phoenix. If the Thunder lose by a big margin, that shakes things up, but it is very unlikely that happens, so there’s no need to spend much time on that scenario.
That would leave the Lakers, Nuggets and Spurs as the other team to host. Even if the Lakers lose, they will have the same record as the winner of the Nuggets-Spurs game, meaning the tiebreaker will be point differential. Denver (+26) and San Antonio (+23) are both within reach of the Lakers should LA lose.
To summarize all of this:
- If the Lakers win, they will host a quarterfinal game
- If the Lakers lose, they could still host a quarterfinal game, but it would depend on point differential
The strong performances by the Lakers in group play so far have them in a great position heading into the quarterfinals and a strong finish would set them up nicely to make a return trip to Las Vegas.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
