Warriors drop fourth straight, may open door for Lakers

The Golden State Warriors lost their fourth straight game Saturday night, falling 104-97 to the Philadelphia Sixers.

Now, at 33-27, the Warriors are just 3 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers.

The Lakers have 23 games left on the schedule, including two against Golden State. A Lakers sweep would close the gap to a single game in the loss column -- the Lakers would hold the tiebreaker.

The Warriors have 22 games left on their schedule with 16 at home. Only 41% of their opponents have records at .500 or above.

Meanwhile the Lakers have a more difficult finish with 11 at home and 12 on the road. Of their final opponents, 52% are at .500 or above.

In addition to playing the Lakers twice, the Warriors also host the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, two teams the Lakers are also chasing to climb into the top eight in the Western Conference.

The Warriors would need to continue their slump (especially with a favorable schedule) but they might open a path to the playoffs for the Lakers.

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Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.