Anthony Davis: Lakers' desperate play during the final days of the regular season

During the final week of the regular season, the defending NBA champions probably did not imagine "playing desperately."

The Los Angeles Lakers won this urgently on Tuesday prior to the anticipated return of LeBron James.

The Lakers won a 101-99 victory over the New York Knicks at Staples Centre by Talen Horteon-3, Tucker's 20 seconds away. The Lakers remain in seventh position on the Western Conference, but in the Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks games, they raised hopes that the play-in tournament would not be held.

"We know where we stand. We play hopelessly, "Anthony Davis said that. "That's everything we can do. This victory is a boost to our trust. When LeBron returns tomorrow, we hope to get him back in his rhythm and acclimatise him. He's healthy and ready for playoffs, we want."

Playoffs commence on 22 May and the playoffs start on Tuesday. The Lakers have three games left for the top six seeds and a guaranteed spot in the first round during the regular season.

It won't be easy to climb out of playing, but for the Lakers there is a path. It begins with winning and includes help. The rest of the road must be 3-0 from Los Angeles. Because both the Blazers and Mavericks are faced with head-to-head tiebreakers, the lakers either need to go 1-2 or worse for Portland and Dallas.

Tuesday was a gutsy effort to pull out the victory. In short, the Lakers ran against a Team of Knicks eager to win its first playoff berth in almost a decade. Davis, who played his 11th game since his return, admitted that he was hampered by a gruesome groyne.

"The groyne became a little tight but I didn't come out of the game," said Davis. "For us, that has been a huge game and I didn't want to come out of it no matter how injured it was, to finish the game.

The position of Horton-Tucker for the winner was emblematic of Davis' despair. Horton-Tucker saw the point guard on the stretch for more minutes with James and Dennis Schröder out

."We're always talking about a team-first team," said Frank Vogel, coach at Lakers

"Everyone needs to stay ready. That everyone matters. This was never true more than the last few weeks when people were called where they didn't expect it and they came in and got on."

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Warriors are gathering again

The Golden State Warriors came together for a victory over one of the top teams at the Western Conference for the second consecutive night. On Tuesday, they closed for a 12-3 win over Phoenix Suns second place, 122-116. The Warriors on Monday dropped Utah Jazz 119-116, the leading western man, to take a place in the play-in tournament. The eighth place in the West is still Golden State, a half game ahead of the two-go Memphis Grizzlies. Given that Steph Curry, the NBA's top scorer, won 4 of 24 (16.7 percent) out of the three points range, the winners were particularly impressive.

"These last two games were so important for us in fighting the two teams with the best league records," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "Tonight felt like a playoff game. Phoenix was well-prepared, had the day off yesterday and they went out of Steph's hands with a great game plan."

Kyrie's facing elbow

A star is returned to the floor, while the status of the Brooklyn Nets is yet another star uncertain. After taking an inadvertent colebow of Nikola Vucevic, Kyrie Irving left Tuesday 115-107 to win the Chicago Bulls with a face contusion. Both collided in the third quarter while they were on their way back to the locker room, and Irving stayed several minutes alone. The first X-ray was "unconclusive," but Irving said "no signs of a commotion." Coach for the Nets, Steve Nash.

"We have to reassess when we get the second scan," Nash said, who added Irving would be subjected to a second x-ray. "It's not a good news.

Nash updated James Harden earlier Tuesday and said the All-Star Guard is still making positive progress to return from a hamstring injury. Harden will be a game time decision on Wednesday for the Nets' game.

?Defensive POY Bam

The debate over the prizes of the year is beginning to begin with the regular season. Rudy Gobert is a favourite at Utah Jazz centre and is the third time in his career to win Defensive Player of the Year. Ben Simmons and Myles Turner Indiana Pacer Center are also top candidates for Philadelphia 76. Bam Adebayo believes he should be in the discussion as well. Miami Heat Centre. Two days after a 129-121 win over Boston Celtics in Miami, Adabayo is talking to the "NBA on TNT" crew.

Night game: jazz blueberries

Portland is one of the hottest teams in the final days of the League, having won 8 of 9 for the Western Conference. The Blazers have little room for mistake, because they are trying to hold off the Mavericks and Lakers and avoid the tournament. Their tough closing line begins in Utah on Wednesday, where the jazz is trying to hold the Suns off for the number one seed in the West. Jazz has two-games lead, but on Tuesday it was learned from a sprained right knee that All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell missed the final three games of the regular saison.

.The simple reason he feels he has closed his interview is the Defensive Player of the Year

."I do everything in defence," he said

."And I'm going to go out on that one

And I'm going to go out on that one