With Lakers big man Anthony Davis on the bench, a late scratch because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot, L.A. held on to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-101 on Friday. Austin Reaves scored a career-high 38 points and LeBron James added 29 points and eight assists as the Lakers survived after D'Angelo Russell -- whom they traded to Brooklyn last month -- missed a potential game-winning 3 with 4.

Buha's take has a lot of validity to it. The Lakers currently occupy the sixth seed in the Western Conference. They are only two games back of the Denver Nuggets for a top four seed in the conference. That gap should be one that can be closed with small improvements.

Davis started the day as probable to play before being downgraded to questionable a little less than an hour before tipoff and ruled out 30 minutes before the game.