LOS ANGELES — For many teams in the position the Lakers entered March in, the next few could be viewed as a daunting stretch.
One that could define their regular season, and ultimately their postseason fate.
But the Lakers aren’t looking that far ahead, keeping their focus on what’s ahead of them in the short term, like Saturday’s nationally televised matchup against the Denver Nuggets.
In addition to Saturday’s game, six of the Lakers’ next seven games come against teams in the Western Conference playoff/play-in tournament race.
The other game is a March 8 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Nine of the next 10 games are at Crypto.com Arena, with the lone road game during that stretch coming against the Sacramento Kings on March 13.
“We look ahead as a staff, but knowing all the while that we got to take care of what’s exactly in front of us,” coach Darvin Ham said pregame. “Obviously, you’re aware of who’s coming in this home stretch, aware of the game’s on the road, but just being in the moment, seeing how great we can be day to day as well as the big picture.
“But it starts with the short term. We have a saying that daily: the daily process leads to progress. We can’t skip days, we can’t overlook anybody. As soon as we start looking too far ahead, that’s when you trip and stumble. And [Saturday] we have put together a gameplan to try to go out and execute it and then hopefully come out on the right side of his game.”
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GILES SIGNING
The Lakers made the anticipated Harry Giles III addition official pregame, signing the big man to a two-way contract.
The team waived Dylan Windler to make room for the signing.
The 6-foot-10 Giles last played for the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 5.1 minutes (16 games) before being waived on Feb. 8.
Giles, the No. 20 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of Duke by the Sacramento Kings, played for the Kings and Portland Trail Blazers before being out of the NBA for two seasons. He’s averaged 5.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 158 NBA games.
The Lakers have been without forward Christian Wood because of a left knee effusion since the All-Star break.
Fellow two-way big man Colin Castleton has also been sidelined for the last couple of weeks because of a fractured right wrist, leaving Jaxson Hayes as the lone backup big man.
“He’s a really good young player,” Ham said of Giles. “He was available, had the opportunity to gain a little more insurance at that position. A couple of guys out ailing – C-Wood, Colin – and also someone we can take a long, hard look at in terms of [implementing] him into the program. I feel like he still has a ton of upside, just [needs] to get with the right program. And we have the coaches to try to help him get better.”