In last nights loss to the New Orleans Hornets, the Lakers lead of the western conference wasn’t the biggest loss. The biggest loss of the night came within the first three minutes of the game when Pau Gasol went down in an attempt to make a great offensive play when he landed on teammate Vladimir Radmanovic’s foot.

The incident was obviously not on purpose however it will cost the Lakers some. Allow me to quickly review the possible effects of this injury on the team’s standing in the western conference:

1. Lakers manage to pull out a big win in Houston, then follow it up with plenty of energy in Utah and Dallas. They return to Staples Center for some much easier competition and sit pretty as the #1 team going into the playoffs.
2. The Lakers can finish 2-2 on this road trip with wins in 2/3 stops, and return to LA to play an easy schedule in which they dominate and still manage to pull of the #1 spot.
3. If the Lakers finish this road trip with 4 losses, they will drop down only 1 1/2-2 games behind of first place. The good news is that they have the easiest remaining schedule in the west and this will allow them to stay competitive until the end. Unfortunately, in the case of a tiebreaker for the first seed, the Spurs, Rockets, and Hornets may all have us beat.

This is finally Kobe’s chance to prove his NBA MVP candidacy. He has led this team to a great record, but he has not done it himself. He has had the support of Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum at most stages of the season. Lets just say that if this team keeps the #1 seed going into the playoffs, Kobe will secure the award and will also go down in history as a much stronger player and team leader than he currently is known as.

Lets just hope for the best for this road trip and not get ahead of ourselves for now. As Phil Jackson said, “I would be ecstatic if it was only the next three, maybe not ecstatic, but, you know, happy.”