Lakers NBA playoff seeding no longer priority entering final stretch

SAN FRANCISCO — Throughout the last two seasons, JJ Redick has referenced a popular Jay-Z bar to illustrate the ups and downs of an NBA season. “It was all good just a week ago,” Redick has said a couple of times during his two seasons as Lakers coach, referencing Jay-Z’s “A Week Ago” from his six-time platinum-selling album, “Vol.2… Hard Knock Life.”Even though Redick hasn’t made the reference since April started, the sentiment applies now. A week ago, the Lakers were one of the league’s hottest teams entering a marquee road game against the Thunder. They had won 16 of their previous 18 games, clinching back-to-back 50-win seasons and a playoff berth March 31, and were in firm control of their postseason seeding fate. Funny what seven days can change.  From there was the blowout loss to the Thunder at Paycom Center, with Luka Doncic (Grade 2 left hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (Grade 2 left oblique strain) suffering regular-season-ending injuries. And then two more losses to the Mavericks and the Thunder, all while the teams closest to them in the standings soared, with the Nuggets on a 10-game winning streak and the Rockets winning seven straight entering Thursday.  California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story All of a sudden, the Lakers went from third place in the Western Conference standings, with a multiple-game cushion on the teams below them, to uncertainty about whether they’d host their first-round playoff series. When the Lakers found out about Doncic’s status for the remainder of the season April 3, Redick reassured that the team’s mission was to clinch the No.3 seed and win a first-round playoff series. But when Reaves’ diagnosis was revealed and the losses piled up, the goal understandably changed and bec...