As the 2025-26 NBA season enters its final stretch, the Los Angeles Lakers are making a push to solidify their spot in the playoff race. Following a surge of wins on their home floor and a couple of good victories on the road in Houston, the Purple & Gold looked to continue their winning ways in the final couple weeks of March. They achieved that in thrilling fashion and extended a long winning streak that was briefly disrupted in a tight game against a top-tier opponent. But winning has been at a high for the LakeShow, who have clinched a playoff berth and are currently seeking to secure the number three seed in the Western Conference for the second season in a row. For now, let’s take a look at some of the top moments of the past two weeks for the Lakers before the final stretch in April comes.
A Fantastic Floridian Flush: Lakers Beat Heat & Magic Behind Historic Performance From Luka In Miami & A Game-Winning Three By Luke Kennard In Orlando
The Lakers went to Florida in continuation of their road trip after winning two games over the Houston Rockets. Playing the second game of a back-to-back against the Miami Heat on Thur, Mar 19 wasn’t an easy task, as Los Angeles got off to a slow and sluggish start versus the Heat. A strong finish to the first half had them down by six points at halftime and the one guy who brought them back was Luka Doncic, who had another incredible performance on a Thursday night game. To start the third quarter, Luka made three straight shots from behind the arc to give the Lakers the lead. Then he just kept going off and became the main source of offense in a tight game at the Kaseya Center. When Miami tried to fight back and retake control, Doncic came back in and got to the 50-point mark for the second time in a week following his 51-point showing against the Chicago Bulls at Crypto.com Arena a week beforehand. Luka made a couple more shots to get up to the mid-50 mark in scoring and then eventually he came within one point of 60. Doncic got to sixty points on a free throw that increased the Lakers’ lead to eight points and that was more than enough to continue the winning streak to eight games for the Purple & Gold. An amazing performance by one of the game’s best players in a 134-126 win over the Heat. Every single one of those points scored and generated by Doncic, who made 18 shots from the field, nine of them from three, and made 15 free throws was an absolute showstopper in the presence of a player who scored 83 points just nine days prior to this game in Bam Adebayo, who scored a measly 28 points in this one. The only other Lakers in double-figures were LeBron James(who had a triple-double in his possible final game in South Beach with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists), Austin Reaves(18 points), and Marcus Smart(13 points). Scoring almost 45% of your team’s points in a game is a pretty impressive achievement and the continuation of a 30-point/40-point game streak for Doncic should put him squarely in the MVP discussion with some of the other contenders.
The win over the Heat was also an accomplishment for LeBron, who tied Robert Parrish on the all-time games played list in NBA history. The King claimed his next crowning achievement in the Lakers’ next game on Sat, Mar 21 versus the Orlando Magic in setting the record for the most regular season games ever played by a single gentleman to wear an NBA team’s jersey. LeBron probably holds the overall record for games played considering his amount of playoff games that he has played in, so just like when he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabaar on the all-time regular season scoring list, this event was simply to make it official in the record books. The game versus Orlando(in a rematch of a close game that the Lakers lost on their home floor 110-109 on Tue, Feb 24) was a very good one as the lead alternated plenty of times in a game that had one high-scoring half and one lower-scoring half. Entering the fourth quarter, the Purple & Gold were trailing by five to Orlando but they kept the score close enough to ensure that this would be another clutch game. In the final two minutes of regulation, both teams traded baskets as the Lakers looked to stay behind by one possession. Following a missed three-pointer by Desmond Bane, the Lakers got the ball back with a chance to tie the game. Reaves missed a three-point shot that would have done the job, but DeAndre Ayton got the rebound and got fouled. Ayton made the first free throw but missed the second one. Wendell Carter Jr got the rebound and attempted to pass the ball to Jalen Suggs, who would have to contend with LeBron James and the ball went off Suggs’ foot and out of bounds. The referee in the area of the play ruled that it was Lakers’ possession, but Magic coach Jamahl Mosley opted to challenge the play in thinking that the ball went off LeBron’s foot before going out of bounds. After a super-long review, the head referee announced that the call on the floor was upheld and the Lakers had a chance to either tie the game or win it. Following a timeout called by J.J Redick, Marcus Smart aimed to inbound the pass to LeBron, who received the ball right underneath the basket and was set to take a layup. However, Paolo Banchero blocked the shot and hit part of James’ arm. No foul was called and the ball went out of bounds again, with it being Lakers’ ball. With no challenge available to review the call under the rim, Redick called the final timeout for the Purple & Gold in order to draw up a good inbounds play with only a few seconds left. The ball was inbounded by Smart from the exact same spot and he found a wide open player behind the three-point line. That player was none other than Luke Kennard, who took the wide-open shot and the ball went seamlessly into the basket. With less than a second left, the Magic had no timeouts remaining and Suggs simply hurled the ball towards the opposite basket and that final attempt was no good. The Lakers had won this game against Orlando in the most thrilling way possible. Kennard made the second buzzer beating shot in the span of a week for L.A after Luka made a game-winning fadeaway in overtime against the Denver Nuggets on Sat, Mar 14. Luke was the hero on this night as he scored 13 points off the bench and made three 3-balls, including the game-winner. Doncic was the leading scorer with 33 points, however something unfortunate happened in the game. Doncic picked up a technical foul for his 16th one of the season, meaning he would have to serve a one-game suspension in the next game for the Lakers unless the technical foul was appealed by the team and rescinded by the league office. We’ll get to the fate of that quagmire in a little bit. Austin Reaves had 26 points in this win while LeBron scored just 12 points. The Magic had seven of their players score in double-figures, but they fell short in this close game for the Lakers, who got some sweet payback over the team they defeated in the 2009 NBA Finals.
As for the Doncic technical foul situation, he picked it up as a double-technical with Magic forward Goga Bitadze, whom Luka claimed made derogatory statements towards him about his family situation. Bitadze and Doncic were both cussing in Serbian language, which Luka understands very well. In light of the situation at-hand and the winning streak being at nine games, the Lakers and Luka opted to appeal the technical foul to the league office ahead of a big game on Mon, Mar 23 against the Detroit Pistons. The league office announced on the day of the game that the technical foul had been rescinded and Doncic would be allowed to play. But if he picked up another technical foul, it would be unlikely to be appealed. This was a narrative worth watching due to Doncic’s past behavioral problems with referees making calls that he doesn’t agree with and also chirping with opposing players. Let’s see what happened over the next couple of days in that regard.
Lakers’ Winning Streak Ends In Detroit Despite Doncic Playing, But Winning Stretch Continues Against Dumpster Fire Teams In the East
On Mon, Mar 23, the Lakers played against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. There was almost the chance that both teams would be without their biggest star players because the Pistons were without Cade Cunningham, who suffered a collapsed lung on Tue, Mar 17. Luka Doncic had avoided a one-game suspension due to his 16th technical foul being rescinded, so he was available to play. In a rematch of a game that Detroit won on LeBron James’ 41st birthday three months prior in L.A, the Lakers were looking to have their winning streak extended to ten games in a row. The game got off to a good start for the Purple & Gold, who led by four points at the end of the first quarter. But in the second quarter, Detroit surged ahead with a 42-point tally. Leading by 12 at the half, the Pistons were doing quite well with Cunningham sidelined. However, in spite of being down by 16 points, the Lakers chipped away in the third quarter and were only down by two points heading into the fourth. In the final period, Detroit tried to pull away, but the Purple & Gold kept the score close. In the final two minutes, there were a lot of missed shots from both teams, but the Lakers took the lead after DeAndre Ayton made a couple of free throws. The Pistons retook the lead with a couple of made free throws by forward Daniss Jenkins. J.J Redick called a timeout and immediately after, Austin Reaves made a swift layup to give the Lakers a one-point lead. However, that might have been an unfortunate instance of scoring “too soon” in the NBA, as after J.B Bickerstaff called a timeout for Detroit, an immediate basket was made by Jenkins. On the ensuing Lakers’ possession, Luka shot a mid-range fadeaway that was missed and rebounded by Jalen Duren, who passed the ball to Jenkins. Reaves fouled Jenkins, who made two free throws to extend the lead to three points. On the last-chance possession, Doncic missed a game-tying three-pointer and the game was over. The nine-game winning streak was over for the Purple & Gold with a 113-110 loss against the best team record-wise in the East.
But the winning stretch was by no means over. The Lakers bounced back by defeating the Indiana Pacers to conclude the road trip by a final score of 137-130 on Wed, Mar 25. The game was overtly dominated by L.A and Bronny James even got an increased load of playing time with 13 minutes played and a couple of baskets. Luka scored 43 points in making 15 out of 30 shots while Reaves had 25 points and LeBron nearly achieved another triple double with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. With Ayton out for the game, Jaxson Hayes stepped up and recorded the third career double-double in his career and his first one in a Lakers jersey. With a good record of 47-26, the Purple & Gold were heading back home to play a few games at Crypto.com Arena and they had a chance to have an undefeated record at home for the entire month of March. The Brooklyn Nets came to town on Fri, Mar 27 and gave the Lakers a better effort than expected. Leading for parts of the third quarter was impressive from Brooklyn, but the Purple & Gold eventually took control and would pull away in the fourth. However, the most significant moment of the game occurred with over five minutes left in the third when Luka Doncic and Ziaire Williams got into a bit of a light scuffle with each other. The referee called both players for technical fouls and that meant Luka was back to 16 on the season. Although the Lakers won the game, they would accept having to be without Luka for at least one game going forward. In spite of getting t-ed up again, Doncic scored 41 points with eight rebounds in continuing his 30+ point scoring streak. Reaves tallied 26 points with eight boards and five assists while LeBron had a modest 14 points.
So the next game for the Purple & Gold would come on Mon, Mar 30 versus the Washington Wizards and they would have to play without their best player in this game. But they handled a Wizards team missing a couple of key players that were acquired via trade in Trae Young and former Laker Anthony Davis. LeBron stepped up with Luka out as he tallied another triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Three other players scored 19 points each for Los Angeles as Reaves, Hayes and Luke Kennard had a combined 57 points between the three of them. The 120-101 win over Washington showed just how good the depth for the Lakers is this season, even against a bad Eastern Conference opponent. But their next game would be a real test of attrition.
On Tue, Mar 30, the Cleveland Cavaliers played the second game of a road back-to-back by taking on the Lakers, whom they beat way back on Wed, Jan 28 by a final score of 129-99. The Purple & Gold were looking for some good payback from that loss. With Luka back, the game was a more even match, but the first half showed Cleveland was in slight control. But the Lakers surged past them in the second quarter to lead by 10 points at halftime. With great fast break offense and very stellar defense against the biggest stars on the Cavs, the LakeShow took complete control in the third quarter with an exhilarating alley-oop dunk by LeBron pushing the lead to 17. The lead went all the way up to 27 points by the end of the quarter with a 45-point quarter by the Purple & Gold. The Cavaliers’ 30-point output in the period never looked so small. A solid 127-113 win over Cleveland gave the Lakers their 50th win of the season and had them clinch a playoff berth for the second straight season in avoiding the play-in tournament altogether. Luka continued his scoring ways with a 42 point-12 assist game for a splendid double-double. Five of Doncic’s teammates scored in double-figures, with Reaves and Ayton scoring in the high teens and LeBron, Jake LaRavia and Rui Hachimura with 14 points each. The defensive effort of L.A held James Harden and Donovan Mitchell in check offensively.
So, with only six games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers will play two games against the best team in the West in the Oklahoma City Thunder. With one game in OKC and the other in downtown Los Angeles, the Lakers will have two chances to beat a team that they could very well see in the Western Conference Finals if they get that far. Besides games against teams likely to be in the play-in tournament on a back-to-back(the Golden State Warriors on the road and the Phoenix Suns at home), the Lakers play against two of the worst teams in the West in the Dallas Mavericks on Easter Sunday and the Utah Jazz in the regular season finale on Sun, Apr 12. The Purple & Gold are still fighting to secure the three seed as the Denver Nuggets remain a game and a half behind them and they have three games against the top-two teams in the West remaining on their schedule. The Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves are both unlikely to catch the Lakers in the standings, but one of them could serve as a potential first round opponent depending on where they finish in the standings. With very little time left to clinch the three seed, the Lakers will still have to work hard to be in a favorable position and prepare themselves for a playoff run unlike any other with some of the best performing players in the entire NBA on their roster. They are mostly healthy for the moment besides not having Marcus Smart available due to him being out with an ankle injury. Getting him back before the playoffs begin will be important. Other than that, the Lakers had themselves a very successful March in having a 15-2 record and no losses on their home court. That is exactly the kind of good basketball that an aspiring championship team needs to play in order to prepare for the gauntlet of the playoffs.
Kent Bewley's News Story Collection 
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