The Los Angeles Lakers were winning until last weekend. They were winning nine out of the previous ten games, and they were even doing well enough to briefly take over eighth position in the Western Conference.

However, LeBron James was unable to participate after being ill just before their Sunday matchup with the Timberwolves. Then, after the first quarter, Kyle Anderson struck Anthony Davis in the eye, forcing Davis to leave the game.

Even though James played and scored 33 points, Los Angeles lost that game and, without Davis for the whole Tuesday night, lost 134-120 to the Golden State Warriors.

Its prospects of placing seventh or eighth in the West are currently extremely unlikely with a 45-35 record. Worse yet, it leads the Warriors by just a half-game in ninth place, suggesting that the team may need to win two away games in the play-in round in order to qualify for the playoffs.

Nevertheless, James stated (at 1:25) that the Lakers are really strong when they are healthy following Tuesday’s game.

Even though the Lakers managed to score 120 points without Davis, their defense suffered greatly without him. They lacked defensive presence in the paint and nearly all rim protection, which contributed to Golden State’s unbelievable 26-of-41 3-point shooting performance.

They still have two games left in the regular season: the final one against the sixth-place New Orleans Pelicans on Friday and the one against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday. Los Angeles, who has a dismal road record of just 17–21 among the 10 West teams that will either make the playoffs or the play-in round, will play both games away.