Was this the ugliest win of the season for the Lakers?

The Lakers have the second-hardest remaining schedule in the league, so wins are not going to be easy the rest of the way. That means even when they’re ugly, and painful, and somehow feel like losses, they have to be celebrated as long as no one gets hurt — because the alternative is having to win two play-in games on the road just to get to the postseason.

In that respect, Wednesday night was a success, as the Lakers ended their three-game losing streak and put some extra distance between themselves and the 10th-seeded Trail Blazers in the process. On the latest episode of “I Love Basketball”, Sabreena Merchant and new co-host Raj Chipalu got into all the reasons why the Lakers can actually be happy about this win.

That list begins (and somewhat ends) with Anthony Davis, who continued his run of strong play since returning from injury. Davis’ cleanups on defense and offensive rebounding were huge keys to the win, and Sabreena and Raj also got into what they liked about Davis’ scoring. They also shared some love for Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony, each of whom managed to succeed in strange circumstances.

It’s not all unicorns and rainbows, though. The two hosts bemoaned the lack of energy that the team showed throughout the game, and how that manifests itself in specific ways, before giving their piece on the starting lineup discussion. They then gave a quick preview of Thursday’s game against the Clippers, the latest in what is become a series of must-wins.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.