Lakers Playoff Watch: LA Rising After Clutch Victory Over Chicago

The Lake Show is on the ascent.

Every win is precious for your Los Angeles Lakers.

That's why last night's 121-110 road victory against the Chicago Bulls was so critical. The win keeps LA firmly ensconced in the Western Conference's play-in bracket race.

At 38-38, the Lakers are the eighth seed in the West. Los Angeles actually has a legitimate shot to skip the chaos of bonus play-in tournament games altogether and move on right away to the big show of the playoffs. Let's unpack that.

It had seemed for a while, at least, like everything from the fourth seed through the tenth seed was pretty much up for grabs in a bunched-up West. That was before the fourth and fifth seeds put together mini-win streaks to create a bit more separation, which with just a couple weeks left in the regular season could be all they need to put their spots out of touch for a club like the .500 Lakers.

The fourth-seeded Phoenix Suns just got their best player, All-Star forward Kevin Durant, back from a brief injury reprieve, and are currently riding a three-game winning streak to a 41-35 record. They're three games ahead of the Lakers. LA has just six games left on its schedule, and unless it wins all of them, it'll be tough to realistically catch a now mostly-whole Phoenix club.

Russell Westbrook's fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers just lost their second-best player, All-Star forward Paul George, but that hasn't slowed them down. They've won two straight, and are now 41-36, 2.5 games ahead of the Lakers.

The sixth-seeded Golden State Warriors, however, who are missing probably their best perimeter defender in Andrew Wiggins, are very catchable. Sporting a 40-37 record, the Dubs are just 1.5 games ahead of Los Angeles in the win column. The Warriors have five more games left on their schedule, three more on the road. Their atrocious 9-29 road record suggest they could lose at least a couple of those contests, against the 51-24 Denver Nuggets and 46-30 Sacramento Kings.

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