LOS ANGELES-- Possibly it was fate that pushed the Lakers into their triumphant minute Tuesday night.

Perhaps the frenzied ending and the surges of noise from the faithful needed to take place the method they did, after the home team had routed by 15 versus a Minnesota club that got in the night shorthanded and a heavy underdog but took the battle to the Lakers and had them on their heels for much of the first 3 quarters.

The home group's supreme 108-102 success in overtime was, for sure, a suggestion to never ever assume. It was likewise a tip that the failures and battles of earlier in the season might have been developing blocks.

It was, for large stretches, definitely inelegant. The quality of play and the spottiness of the Lakers' efficiency for much of the night were certainly no recommendations for picking the No. 7 seed Lakers over the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies when their best-of-seven first-round series begins Sunday, no matter the number of "group no one wishes to deal with" descriptions we'll hear in coming days about any group that begins with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and goes from there.

And yet … … maybe we're looking at a true zombie group here, The Team That Wouldn't Die. A group that started the year 2-10, handled personnel and injuries changes and stayed in the fight, and in some way is still in it.

Perhaps there genuinely is something to Coach Darvin Ham's persistence that W and L stands just as much for Wisdom and Lessons as for Wins and Losses, though the latter is what tends to figure out the length of time a coach remains utilized.

" I think some of the substantial frustrating losses we experienced early on-- whether it was a defensive breakdown, whether it was an unfortunate foul, whether it was missed totally free tosses, whether it was running out of gas in overtime-- it's totally unpleasant when you're in the moment and going through those things," Ham stated.

" But once again, you need to find the silver lining in things, whether it's basketball, major sports in basic, in life. You constantly got to look for a silver lining and look forward and gain from these errors so that, you know, they're not repetitive, they don't end up being repeated."

It's a multi-faceted process. The transactions that brought individuals like D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Malik Beasley to the roster at midseason also brought chances for both holdovers and newbies to share experiences, produce discussion and determine methods for people to enter into the whole.

" And you go to that process and as soon as you get to the end of things, to have everybody healthy, to be playing in the type of rhythm we're playing in, to defend at the level that we're defending at entering into the most essential time of the year, you can't ask for a better situation," Ham stated.

The madness of the late stages of regulation-- a dead-on 3-pointer by Dennis Schröder to give the Lakers a 98-95 lead with 1.4 seconds left, followed by a foul call against Anthony Davis on a 3-point shot by Minnesota's Mike Conley with one-tenth of a 2nd left and Conley's three totally free throws to re-tie ball game-- probably didn't faze the Lakers since the entire journey from 2-10 to the playoffs has been crazy.

Another look at Anthony Davis fouling Mike Conley 3 pic.twitter.com/q2trP7uSDo

—-- Alex (@Dubs408) April 12, 2023

" With the state of mind that we have, it was just, 'Next play,'" Austin Reaves said. "We did not stay on it or anything like that. That simply shows the durability of the group."

That, James stated, is something his group has actually been excellent at, being "able to stick with the video game and find a method to gut it out and win-- (despite) sluggish starts or not finishing the video game off the method we had actually like to.

" You understand, just always searching for a method. And tonight was another instance of that versus a really, extremely, great team."

It was a real playoff atmosphere, even if the NBA doesn't consider these games part of the playoffs however instead, the "Play-In Tournament" (with, naturally, a title sponsor).

The capacity crowd raised the sound level greatly as the game got tighter and crazier, and particular plays-- Schröder's 3-pointer at the end of regulation, Hachimura's 3-pointer in the very first minute of overtime, and Davis' within basket over Karl-Anthony Towns with 1:40 left in overtime for a 105-100 lead-- needed to have actually had Apple Watches throughout the structure providing "loud environment" warnings.

" It's playoff magnified out there," James said. "You dive for loose balls, you're taking charges, you run people off the line attempting to keep your body in front of 'em.

" Basically you're simply takin' the gas down to E, then try to refuel as much as you can conserve as a reserve tank. … … You can constantly discover a method to make one more play, one more steal, another block and one more rebound, you know, or get another stop."

Next play … … next video game … next series … this is how the Lakers' 2022-23 season has been constructed, with the lessons of the hard times notifying the decisions of the much better ones.

" That's been our mantra, what's represented us the entire season: Just attempting to move on," Ham said. "Not continuously belaboring a problem, a problem, what failed, however simply continuously searching for options to ensure we do not make the exact same error twice."

That mentality, and having actually been in seriousness mode for most of the previous month, has gotten them here. And now they've reached the time of the basketball year that, a minimum of for this happy franchise, really defines success or failure.

jalexander@scng.com