Lakers' playoff chances still up in the air after fall to Clippers

LOS ANGELES – The playoff hopes of the Los Angeles Lakers remains less clear after their 125-118 loss to the Clippers at the Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time).

A weary-looking Lakers side — who returned to Los Angeles after a gruelling overtime victory in Utah on Tuesday — trailed for almost the entire game as the Clippers brought up their 11th consecutive win over their city rivals.

The Clippers set the tone early on, jumping out to a 15-3 first-quarter lead in the opening minutes. 

The Lakers rallied to lead by one briefly in the opening period before the Clippers reasserted themselves to pull clear, at one stage opening up a 24-point lead in the third quarter.

LeBron James led the scoring for the Lakers with a game-high 33 points while Norman Powell (27 points) and at the Crypto.com Arena (25) carried the Clippers to victory.

The loss leaves the Lakers outside the top six automatic playoff spots with two regular-season games remaining. 

The Lakers are seventh in the standings with a 41-39 record, with the Clippers and Golden State Warriors just ahead of them with identical 42-38 records. 

Elsewhere, the Dallas Mavericks kept their faint hopes of a playoff spot alive with a 123-119 win over the Sacramento Kings in Texas.

Kyrie Irving led the Mavs' scoring with 31 points while Luka Doncic finished with 29 to give Dallas a fighting chance of reaching next week's play-in tournament.

Dallas are 11th in the standings, one place outside the play-in qualification spots.

"It's not over until it's over," Irving said. "We've just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep maintaining the poise and mentality and the results will come.

"We don't control our own destiny but we can control our effort out here right now." 

Four clubs advance to the play-in mini-tournament to determine the final two teams that join the top six finishers in each conference.