Lakers Have to Hold On to Record

The Lakers currently hold the NBA’s best record coming out of a break due to the All-Star game, but with 30 regular-season games left they need to work hard to hold on to their title. Yesterday the Lakers resumed practice at their El Segundo training facility with their league-best 42-10 record intact, all too aware that 17 of their final 30 games are road games. The Lakers are solid picks to take the West’s No. 1 playoff seeing; San Antonio would have to go 27-4 to tie L.A. for the best record in the Western Conference.

As for their biggest opponents, the Boston Celtics (44-11), they only have 27 more regular-season games. The Cleveland Cavaliers (40-11) will play 16 of their last 31 games at home (they were 23-0 at home until the Lakers beat them earlier this month). When asked if the Lakers could remain ahead of Boston and Cleveland, Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson told the L.A. Times, “I don’t know. Who knows that? We think we’ve got the experience. Our bench has to provide a little more help for us so we have better support so that Lamar [Odom] and Pau [Gasol] don’t have to play extended minutes, We’ll see if we can’t get that going a little bit better.” Andrew Bynum will remain sidelined for an expected six to 10 more weeks, keeping Gasol and Odom as key players. Jackson admitted that Odom and Gasol are necessary to take “the load off Kobe,” as both players have increased their scoring, rebounding and minutes since Bynum’s been out.

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