And James — who just passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA scoring record — says the 23 games the Lakers have left carry incredible significance. An NBA regular season has 1,230 games; 884, or 72%, have been played. No reigning champion has missed the following season’s playoffs since the Chicago Bulls didn’t get to the postseason in 1999. The only teams that hit the break with that good of a winning percentage and missed the playoffs were the 2007-08 Warriors and last season’s Cavaliers. Not one, not two, but three NBA teams play three consecutive games in Los Angeles during March — the Lakers, the Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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