Los Angeles Lakers: The eight most important games for the playoff push

The first four:

• March 3 @ San Antonio Spurs

Barring a complete meltdown, the San Antonio Spurs are essentially a lock for the NBA Playoffs and their contest with the Los Angeles Lakers will not decide the fate of the team. However, this contest will serve as the Lakers first test since the All-Star Break against a playoff-caliber Western Conference team.

The Lakers and Spurs have squared off one time thus far this season, which resulted in a 93-81 win. Lonzo Ball should be in the full swing of things come March 3 and will play a big difference in the result. For the Lakers, this is the first proving grounds that they are a legitimate playoff caliber team.

• March 5 vs Portland Trail Blazers

In the Lakers’ very next game they take on another Western Conference playoff team in the Portland Trail Blazers. This game will hold far more implications than the Spurs-Lakers matchup just two nights earlier.

Portland is currently fifth in the Western Conference, however, they are only two games ahead of the ninth-seed in the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers are part of the convoluted mess in the West and the Lakers would benefit from taking a win from them.

• March 9 @ Denver Nuggets, vs Denver Nuggets March 13

The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets two times out of three games with a contest with the Cleveland Cavaliers in between. Denver is in a similar position as the Trail Blazers. As the sixth-seed, Denver is just 1.5 games ahead of the ninth-seeded Clippers.

This stretch of games is huge for the Los Angeles Lakers. If LA can steal a win from both the Spurs and Trail Blazers and defeats the Orlando Magic they will be riding a three-game win streak heading into Denver. If they win their February 26 contest against the Hawks (which they should) it will be a six-game win streak.

I do not expect LA to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, however, if LA did take both games against the Nuggets it would finally cement LA as a legit playoff threat. At that point, if this all happened, LA would have to be within bare minimum four games of the eighth seed.