Lakers blow 17-point lead, lose to Wizards in overtime

The All-Star break can’t come soon enough for the Los Angeles Lakers. After leading by as much 17 points in the first half, the Lakers fell to the Washington Wizards 127-124 in overtime for their third consecutive loss. Prior to Monday night, the Lakers hadn’t lost three consecutive games since August.

This is usually the part of the story where we talk about what happened in the game, who did well and who did less well, but in all honesty, it’s not even worth mentioning — really. All you really need to know is that the Lakers looked tired because, despite what they have said since the season started, they are, which is understandable when you consider the fact that they had just two months to recuperate from their year-long championship run.

On top of their fatigue, they were without two of their five-best players, Dennis Schröder and Anthony Davis. Had just one of them been available, we likely would have been talking about (or not talking about) a different result. The same could have been said about Saturday’s game.

When Schröder and Davis get back, the Lakers will be good. Until then, they will be bad. That’s your recap.

The Lakers will look to bounce back in a big way on Wednesday, when they’ll play the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. The Jazz hold the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a three-game cushion and haven’t lost a game at home since Dec. 31.

It’s certainly possible that the Lakers will look better on Wednesday, but without Dennis Schröder or Anthony Davis, it’s also possible (and some would argue likely) that they’re in for another rough night.

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