Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham says the team's goal is to reach the playoffs rather than falling into a play-in situation as they look to revive their season after the All-Star break.
The Lakers are currently 13th in the Western Conference with a 27-32 record ahead of their resumption against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
Despite the Lakers' lowly rank in the west, they are only 2.0 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 10th seed, which earns a play-in berth.
But LA are also only 3.5 games behind the sixth-placed Dallas Mavericks, for the final of the guaranteed playoffs spots, offering hope for a side which drastically changed its roster prior to the break.
Russell Westbrook has departed, while they acquired D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt to bolster their squad.
The Lakers also have LeBron James and Anthony Davis fit again and ready to team up as they look for a charge, with the four-time NBA MVP earlier this week labelling their final 23 regular-season games as "the most important" games of his career.
"The goal is for us to come out and try to be the best version of ourselves each game, but definitely, if we can go and secure a spot, that is our goal right there," Ham told reporters.
"If we fall into a play-in situation, so be it. But our number one goal is to go secure a spot, not just throw games off here or there and just wish for a play-in. We want to go secure a spot."
The Lakers face two of their main rivals for those final Western Conference playoffs spots in their next two games, with the Warriors sitting ninth with a 29-29 record but they will be without star Stephen Curry to injury.
The Mavericks, who acquired Kyrie Irving prior to the Trade Deadline, are next on Sunday after Golden State.
"I mean we have to help ourselves first and foremost, and we only do that by winning games," Ham said.
"We've already put ourselves behind the eight ball enough, we don't want to get into a further situation where we're depending on teams in front of us to lose games and all the while we're dropping games.
"Winning is the focus. It's the only way we can help ourselves and take care of what we can control."
All-Star Davis said the Lakers needed to treat every remaining game as a "must-win" and play them like Game 7 of a series.
'That's why he's MVP!' – Embiid's 50-point night powers 76ers
Joel Embiid was praised for an "effortless" shooting performance after he led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 131-126 victory over the Washington Wizards with a season-high 50 points.
The reigning NBA MVP, who also grabbed 13 rebounds, hit the 50-point mark for the sixth time in his career on Wednesday.
Washington (3-17) was in with a chance of an upset as they led in the fourth quarter but the 76ers prevailed to improve to 13-7 on the season with a key road win.
Embiid was 19 of 24 from the floor and 11 of 13 from the foul line. He also had seven assists and six turnovers in just over 38 minutes.
Tyrese Maxey added 26 points and De'Anthony Melton chipped in with 19 as Philadelphia averted a third straight loss.
"I felt like it was one of those nights where I had to be aggressive and get it going," Embiid said after the game.
"Sometimes your team needs you to be a playmaker, but sometimes they need you to score.
"But they made passes, they made the right plays every single time and I just finished them."
Melton felt it was a game that showed how important Embiid is to the team, with the 76ers now set to play three of their next four games at home, including another clash with the Wizards on Monday.
"That's why he's the MVP," Melton said. "He's our safety valve – offensively and defensively.
"He covers up for a lot of our mistakes defensively and then offensively he can bail us out late and make some shots.
"He was just going out there effortlessly shooting the ball and scoring."
Philadelphia is fourth in the Eastern Conference standings and are next in action at home to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Doncic has triple-double in 1st half in Mavericks' rout
Luka Dončić notched a triple-double by halftime and finished with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in three quarters in the Dallas Mavericks’ 147-97 rout of the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
Doncic grabbed a rebound with 71 seconds left in the first half and assisted on Dereck Lively II’s dunk 12 seconds later to complete the 60th triple-double of his career. That moved him past Larry Bird into sole possession of ninth on the career list.
The Dallas superstar had the first 25-point first-half triple-double in NBA history. Doncic shot 14 of 25 from the field and was 6 of 12 from long range.
Kyrie Irving added 26 points for Dallas, which had its highest-scoring game of this season and came up two points shy of the highest-scoring game ever in regulation.
Ochai Agbaji scored 21 points for the Jazz, who played without top scorers Lauri Markkanen (hamstring) and Jordan Clarkson (thigh).
Grizzlies’ Bane goes off as Pistons lose again
Desmond Bane poured in 32 of his career-high 49 points in the second half and the Memphis Grizzlies sent the Detroit Pistons to their 18th straight loss, 116-102.
Detroit’s streak is the longest single-season run in franchise history and the longest in the NBA since the Houston Rockets’ 20-game slide in 2020-21. The Philadelphia 76ers hold the NBA record with a 26-game drought in 2013-14.
Bane shot 19 of 31 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range while sinking all seven free-throw attempts. He added eight assists and six rebounds.
The Pistons held a 69-61 lead midway through the third quarter, but Bane scored the next seven points.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 22 points for Detroit, which was outscored 34-18 in the fourth quarter.
Embiid drops 50 in 76ers’ win
Joel Embiid scored a season-high 50 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 131-126 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Embiid hit the 50-point mark for the sixth time in his career, falling nine points short of his career best set on Nov. 13, 2022, against Utah.
He was 19 of 24 from the floor with a 3-pointer on two attempts and 11 of 13 from the foul line. He also had seven assists and six turnovers in just over 38 minutes.
Tyrese Maxey added 26 points as the 76ers averted a third straight loss.
Durant refuses to pin Suns defeat to Lakers on controversial timeout
Kevin Durant did not look to use a contentious timeout call as an excuse after the Phoenix Suns slipped to a 106-103 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Suns were left furious after the referee elected to call a timeout following LeBron James' call, when the ball appeared to be loose, late in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's in-season tournament quarter-final.
With 15 seconds remaining, Davin Booker dispossessed Austin Reaves, with James swiftly requesting a timeout, which was granted.
Suns coach Frank Vogel fumed: "It's a loose ball, and you can't call a timeout on a loose ball.
"The whistle blows. I don't know why. Everything in the league is reviewable. I don't know why that can't be reviewable.
"We've got the trap, we've got the turnover, [and the] damn whistle blows. It's just frustrating."
Durant, though, did not share his coach's anger.
"That's not the ballgame," said Durant, who led the Suns with 31 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
"That's one play. It's a 48-minute game. I don't like to complain about calls.
"Sometimes the ref isn't going to get it right all the time. Sometimes it's on us to play through all that stuff and not worry about putting the game in the ref's hands."
Reaves added: "There was no call, and LeBron made a high-IQ play he's made a million times.
Vogel did, however, echo Durant's sentiment that the Suns did not do enough to win the tie and progress to Las Vegas.
"We didn't do enough early in the game," Vogel said. "The turnovers and on the glass, if we do a better job, we're not talking about a close game like that."
The Lakers will now face the New Orleans Pelicans for a place in the final of the inaugural in-season tournament, with the winner taking home the NBA Cup.
"You've got some of the most alpha male competitors in the world, and if you give us an opportunity to play for something meaningful or an incentive, then you get what you're getting," said James, who finished with 31 points and 11 assists.
"The in-season tournament is what it is, and we have an opportunity to play on a big stage, be on national television, represent our families, our communities, where we come from."
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