LA Basketball... A Win Win Situation

The Lakers and the Clippers are in the NBA Playoffs and well... we're happy for them. In a place like LA where we are used to titles, the playoffs used to be a foregone conclusion (well except for the Clips). But as it turns out, changes swept the landscape here and just to show you how weird things got, the Clips, who had their best season EVER, are a higher seed than the Lakers. No that is not snow you see falling outside either...

Yes, the Lakers (45-37). The Ol' Zen Master did a great coaching job this season. Having the offense run through the best player in the league and FINALLY getting the potential out of Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown, especially down the stretch. Along the way to wrapping up the 7th seed, Kobe grabbed the scoring title with the highest scoring average (over 35 a game) in 19 years... 19!!! And lets face it, the Lakers needed every point. They will square off against the Phoenix Suns (54-28) who know how to put up some points of their own. They own one of the highest TEAM scoring averages in the league and have a player (and MVP candidate) in Steve Nash that makes EVERY man on the floor dangerous. Yeah this is a tough draw for the Lakers but they do have a fighting chance. Especially with Kobe in our corner. We will see how that goes down starting Sunday.

The Clips (47-35), who are the 6th seed, will go up against the Denver Nuggets (44-38), who are the 3rd seed Saturday at the Staples Center. Whats that you say? The Clippers have a better record but are a lower seed? The higher seeded team opens up on the ROAD?? Well, we dont know what to tell you. That is how the wacky playoff brackets work in the NBA. Teams that win their respective divisions get the higher seeds regardless of record... which of course makes NO sense at all. But, regardless, the Clippers have a GREAT chance of getting into the second round of the playoffs in like... well... in like ever.

So sit back and root on the local squads. With any luck, we could be rooting for them into May.