Lakers Rank Second Best in NBA

The Lakers are settling into the second best record in the NBA, with the Cleveland Cavaliers in first, and are focused on the championship with the memory of last year’s upsetting finals against the Boston Celtics fresh in their minds. With a 117-109 victory over Indiana last night (April 13), the Cavaliers officially have the league’s top record and home court advantage throughout the playoffs. The Lakers would be the middle part of the 2-3-2 series format if the two teams meet in June, which didn’t turn out so well during last season’s Finals; in the second-most lopsided Finals game in NBA history the Lakers lost Game 6 in Boston by 39 points.

Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson told the L.A. Times, “It’s not ultimately something that we’re going to mourn right now or rue the fact that we’re not there right now. We’ve had a great season, we’ve put a good run on. They did better than we did.” The Lakers (64-17) will finish behind the Cavaliers (66-15) no matter what happens tonight against Utah (48-33). Jackson said Utah matches up well with the Lakers, pinning Mehmet Okur with Pau Gasol, Deron Williams with Derek Fisher and poweer forwards Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap with the Lakers’ front line. Jackson also hinted the forward Andrei Kirilenko may cause problems if he guards Kobe Bryant saying, “This team has shown a variety of different people that can do things against us individually. There’s all kind of matchup situations that are strong advantages in most sequences that we all recognize.”

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