After this game, the Lakers were overtaken by the Utah Jazz, who had a 51–15 record, and fell to second place in the West!
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Kenny Anderson's injury and dropping to second in the West was quite a blow for the Lakers players.
There was good news too: O'Neal's recovery from injury was going very well. Although he hadn't managed to come back after just two weeks of rest like in the ideal scenario, his recovery was still very good. By the next road trip, when they had consecutive away games, O'Neal would basically be able to return.
After finishing the game against the Clippers, they had a day off, and on March 16, the Lakers hosted the Raptors at home.
Small guards had been getting injured a lot this season; the physical battles they faced were intense. The Lakers' Kenny Anderson was hurt, and over on the Raptors' side, Damon Stoudamire had also gone down at the start of the month, already missing his sixth straight game.
