The LA Lakers own the toughest and most brutal schedule in the NBA in the month of December – nine games on the road and only five at home (Staples Center).
They started on the wrong foot, losing to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, 114-110, at the Staples Center – last Dec. 1 to have their 10-game win streak – the longest in 10 years (2009) by the Lakers when they annexed the NBA title behind Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, who was recently waived by the Portland Trail Blazers.
While the Lakers fell to a West-leading 17-3 with the home loss to the Mavs, they bounced back to whip the conference second-best (13-5) Denver Nuggets, 105-96, yesterday, at the Pepsi Center for their ninth consecutive victory on the road following a season-opening setback to their co-Staples Center tenant Los Angeles Clippers (who were listed as the home team).
At 18-3, the Lakers share the NBA’s best record with the Milwaukee Bucks, winners of their last 12 games (the NBA season high), heading into today’s road encounter with the 12-9 Utah Jazz.
The Lakers are 9-2 at home and a league-best 9-1 on the road. Away from home, Milwaukee is right there at 9-2 following by the surprising Dallas Mavericks at 8-2 with an overall card of 14-6. Only three teams in the NBA remain unblemished on home territory – Philadelphia (10-0), Miami (8-0) and Boston (7-0), all from the Eastern Conference.
After today’s duel with Utah, rookie Lakers head coach Frank Vogel’s troops from Tinseltown will take a day’s rest before clashing with the struggling (8-13) Portland Trail Blazers in the finale of a three-game road sojourn on December 7 (Manila time).
Portland lost to the LA Clippers, 117-97, yesterday and will host the Sacramento Kings today. Still, the Trail Blazers are buoyed by the return to NBA action of Carmelo Anthony, who earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors (ending December 1) after leading his team to three straight wins. The last time that Anthony was named for such an honor was on March 10, 2014, when he was still a star with the New York Knicks. Anthony signed with Portland only last November 19, agreeing to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal after having not played since November 8, 2018 while with the Houston Rockets. At 35, Anthony is the oldest player to capture the weekly award since San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, then 38, won the West honor for the final week of the 2014-15 campaign.
After hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Staples Center on December 9 (MT), the Lakers will again embark on a five-game road odyssey – @ Orlando Dec. 12, @ Miami Dec. 14, @ Atlanta Dec. 16, @ Indiana Dec. 18 and @ Milwaukee Dec. 20.
The Lakers subsequently will have a two-game home stand – vs. Denver Dec. 23 and vs. LA Clippers Dec. 26 (as part of the NBA’s five-game Christmas bill).
Following a second trip to Portland on Dec. 29, the Lakers will complete the month of December – and the year – with another home bout with the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 30.
The goal of the Lakers, according to star frontliner Anthony Davis, is not to lose two games in a row. And so far, the team is right on track.
Until this month, a soft schedule it had been for the Lakers, who were 14-1 in November.
So far, the team is 14-0 against teams below .500 when it met them and only 4-3 against the others.
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The Los Angeles Lakers registered an NBA-record 33-game winning streak en route to a 69-13 record during the 1971-72 regular season and then beat the New York Knicks, 4-1, in the NBA Finals behind Finals Most Valuable Player Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West (Mr. NBA Logo who is now an executive with the LA Clippers) and Gail Goodrich (like West a Manila visitor in the past) for their first-ever NBA title finish since the franchise moved to Los Angeles from Minneapolis.
Call it a coincidence, but the Lakers’ affiliate in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the Los Angeles Sparks, also posted a league-record 18-game winning streak en route to finishing with the WNBA’s best record during the 2001 campaign and then defeating the Charlotte Sting, 2-0, in the WNBA Finals behind regular and Finals MVP Lisa Leslie for their first-ever crown, shattering the four-year title reign of the Houston Comets from 1997 (inaugural WNBA season) to 2000.
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