In mid-March, the Los Angeles Lakers were in danger of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row. They had won nine of their last 13 games, but they were only in ninth place in the Western Conference. Worse yet, LeBron James was sidelined with a right foot injury and Anthony Davis sat out the second of a back-to-back set on March 15 as a precaution.
The Lakers faced the Houston Rockets on that date, and although the Rockets were one of the NBA’s worst teams, they blitzed L.A. early and took a 31-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.
