Are the Lakers a serious contender for a playoff berth?

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Julius Randle’s triple-double helped improve the Lakers to 7-5. (Associated Press) The Los Angeles Lakers entered this season with the hope of establishing a new core of stars and a fresh direction in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s retirement. The immediate returns on opening night were positive, but the assumption was always that the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and head coach Luke Walton were too young to lead the team back into the playoffs this season. That success would come later, when the young stars had developed and high-quality free agents had seen that the Lakers could be a contender once again.
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It’s only been 12 games, but Walton and his young team could be ahead of schedule. Tuesday night’s 125-118 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets made it three wins in four games, enough to boost L.A.’s record to 7-5. By contrast, the Lakers did not win seven games last season until January 1, when they also had 27 losses. This year’s record is good enough to have them in a three-way tie for fifth place in the West and a game ahead of the No. 9 Memphis Grizzlies for a playoff berth. Early or not, the Lakers have been good enough to emerge as a threat for a spot in the postseason.
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As Tuesday’s score suggests, most of the success has come at the offensive end. Six of the Lakers’ wins have come while scoring at least 117 points, and their defensive efficiency ranking only just cracks the NBA’s top 20. Thankfully, second-year point guard D’Angelo Russell looks like a star in the making. His 32 points (7-of-13 3FG) against the Nets were a new season-high and another sign that he can lead the Lakers for years to come.

Yet Tuesday’s win was clearly a team effort, with five players scoring at least 12 points and several others chipping in to balance off-nights for bench scorer Lou Williams (2-of-11 FG) and starting shooting guard Nick Young (2-of-8 FG). Forward Julius Randle logged his second career triple-double with 17 points (5-of-8 FG), 14 rebounds, and 10 assists, as well:

An honest assessment would have to list the Lakers as unlikely to keep it up. ESPN.com’s Kevin Pelton crunched the numbers last Wednesday (when they were 4-4) and projections they will win no more than 33 games, so there’s still a long way to go. Less scientifically rigorous predictions would reach a similar conclusion. For one thing, just three of their wins have come against likely playoff teams, and two of them — the Houston Rockets on opening night and the Golden State Warriors in an obvious outlier two weeks ago — seem easy enough to explain away. Plus, their upcoming schedule is very, very difficult:

Let’s just check in on that upcoming Lakers schedule and pic.twitter.com/brO3yLSxYA
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 16, 2016
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It would not be a shock to look at the Lakers on December 8 and see a team firmly in the lottery. On the other hand, even a few impressive wins in that 12-game stretch would communicate that the Lakers aren’t going to court irrelevance so easily in 2016-17. Walton has this team playing hard and energetically every time they take the floor, and they could be a willing spoiler later in the season if they fall out of postseason contention. The smart money says they’ll still have to wait a bit for a playoff berth, but this strong start has at least opened up the possibility before most analysts were ready to consider it.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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