Lakers vs. Wizards Preview and Game Thread: Can the regain their form?

The Lakers look to get back on the winning column as they host the struggling Wizards on Tuesday.

After a dispiriting loss to L.A. Clippers on Sunday, the Lakers are back on their home floor against the visiting Washington Wizards. This is the first time these two teams face this season with both teams coming off losses.

The Wizards, in particular, are currently on a 10-game losing streak.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Washington Wizards

When: 7:30 p.m. PT, Jan 21

Where: Crypto.Com Arena

Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet

The Lakers’ last defeat in the hands of the Clippers was the perfect eye opener in telling how badly the team has performed of late. Even by their own standards, L.A. hasn’t been performing well on both sides of the floor.

The stats will say that they’ve split their last four games, but what’s also important to point out is that they’re scored less than 103 points in three of those matches and rank 28th in defense over their last 10 games.

I emphasized the last four games because I can’t help but point out the drop off in L.A.’s level of compete, focus and effort since taking time off. And as someone who constantly pays attention to the Western Conference standings, the purple and gold could soon find themselves in the bottom tier of it if they keep their play up.

At the moment, the Lakers (22-18) are sitting in the sixth spot, barely above the play-in with the Dallas Mavericks (23-20) just below them. The purple and gold actually got a huge break as Dallas deals with injuries.

It also helped that, on Monday, every team that the Lakers needed to lose — the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Mavericks and Golden State Warriors — all failed to win as well.

That’s why in this upcoming game against the Wizards — the worst team in the NBA right now — the Lakers have to take full advantage of this opportunity. Led by the duo of Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma, Washington has both the worst defense and offense in the league.

There’s no excuse for the Lakers to allow this Wizards team to score more than their average of 108.6 per game. Unless the Lakers’ defense doesn’t show up — which isn’t out of the realm of possibility — then they should be able to slow their opponent down.

In the loss against the Clippers, we saw a really mediocre game from Anthony Davis which he hopefully bounces back from. It would also be nice to see Dorian Finney-Smith get back on track as well as Max Christie, Gabe Vincent and Dalton Knecht, who all have to make sure they don’t get cooked by Poole. He has the highest usage on this team so expect Poole and Kuzma to have the ball on their hands a lot.

Meanwhile for the Lakers, what’s fair to expect is for them to play hard after getting embarrassed in their previous game. They can’t play down to their opponent as they normally do this season. This Wizards team may have lost 10 straight games, but they’re desperate to snap that and, at this point, the Los Angeles better not be that team that hands them their first victory since Jan.2.

Let’s see if the Lakers can get back to the winning column and more importantly, regain their form in Tuesday’s match against the Wizards.

Notes and Updates

• Since we’re in the topic of standings, here’s a fun fact: The Lakers are 11-1 against teams below .500 this season. That’s pretty much why they’re above the play-in race. But also very indicative of how they’ve performed this season. Hopefully, their record improves to 12-1 on Tuesday.
• For the Lakers’ injury report, LeBron James (left foot injury management) is probable.
• Anthony Davis (right calf soreness) and Jaxson Hayes (right shoulder soreness) are questionable. Austin Reaves (knee), who had an injury scare last game, is notably not on the report.
• As for those that won’t play, Jalen Hood-Schifino (left hamstring strain), Jarred Vanderbilt (right foot surgery recovery) and Christian Wood (left knee surgery recovery) are all out
• For the Wizards, Saddiq Bey (ACL surgery), Marvin Bagley II (right knee sprain) and Malcolm Brogdon (plantar fascia contusion) are out.
• We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.