The Los Angeles Lakers secured their berth as the seventh seed in the 2024 NBA Playoffs after defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 in their play-in tournament matchup on the road at the Smoothie King Center on Tuesday night, April 16.
However, a bigger challenge awaits the purple-and-gold franchise, as they are scheduled to face the defending NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets, in the first round.
The Nuggets previously swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals last year en route to their first championship in franchise history.
Despite their challenging recent history against the Nuggets, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham remains confident about his team's chances heading into the series.
"Its back to 0-0. Obviously, they've had a ton of success against our ball club but, there's always a new day... We like our chances," the 50-year-old said in the Lakers-Pelicans post-game press conference.
Darvin Ham shuts down notion of dropping play-in game
Before the play-in game against the Pelicans, speculation suggested that the Lakers should intentionally lose the game to avoid facing the Nuggets in the first round.
This would allow them to face the winner of the Warriors-Kings play-in game for a chance to challenge the 1st seed Oklahoma City Thunder subsequently.
"Someone that got out of the insane asylum," Ham remarked.
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