Lakers vs. Warriors Preview: Chalk it up as an L

Coming off of a blowout road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers will be back at home to take on the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

The Warriors are a really, really good basketball team and with the postseason just around the corner, the expectation is that they’re going to take their game to a whole new level, which is absolutely terrifying. To put things into perspective, they’ve been on cruise control for most of the season and still have the third-best record in the NBA.

So, whenever you’re feeling sad about the fact that the Lakers won’t be playing in the postseason, remind yourself that even if things went well, they would have had to eventually play the Warriors, whose starting lineup features an enhanced Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Lakers are tied for the 10th-worst record in the league with the Minnesota Timberwolves after going 5-11 in March, and the team’s injury report is longer than a CVS Pharmacy receipt. LeBron James, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart have already been shut down for the season and there’s a possibility Kyle Kuzma will join them with four games left in the season. For now, though, Kuzma is listed as questionable against Golden State, as is Tyson Chandler, who has sat out the last five games with a back injury.

This is usually the part of the story where I break down what the Lakers could do to put themselves in the best position to win, but to be honest, unless the Warriors’ starting lineup eats some bad King Taco a few minutes before tip-off, there’s no way Los Angeles is winning this game.

Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. on TNT.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Christian on Twitter at @RadRivas.