Lakers - Spurs Series Preview
WHen the Lakers had a private team meeting in Memphis prior to a January 23rd game that would put them eight games below .500 (17-25), their playoff outlook appeared bleak.
A Murphy’s Law season of injuries to that point – every starter and two key bench players has missed significant time – would continue into the second half of the season … nonetheless, the wins started piling up.
By the All-Star break, the Lakers were 25-29. A month later on March 17, they were 36-32. They finally appeared to have the full squad healthy, with Pau Gasol returning from 20 games missed to a plantar fascia tear, only to see Steve Nash go down with back/hip/hamstring issues at Sacramento on March 30, when they had barely any room to lose a game with the Utah Jazz charging towards the final playoff seed.