With 23 games left in the season, the Lakers still find themselves out in the cold when it comes to the playoffs out West. Partly by their own doing.
Yes, the team is still theoretically in striking distance of the 8th seed (three games back and two in the loss column as of this article) but have been completely unable to build any sort of momentum during a time when they absolutely need to.
After a wondrous come-from-behind victory against James Harden and the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles responded by laying an egg on the road as they got pounced on by a sliding Pelicans squad that was without their All-Star big man, Anthony Davis.