The Los Angeles Lakers completed their regular season last night by securing the #1 seed in the Western Conference. Tonight is closing night and there were 14 games in session. Every team except for the Lakers and Sacramento Kings were in action trying to secure their spots in the playoffs.

As the Lakers started their two days of rest (Phil Jackson is giving the team two days off, including today, Wednesday, and Thursday to rest up for the playoffs) the rest of the league went to work. The two teams that Lakers had any chance of facing in the first round were the Dallas Mavericks or the Denver Nuggets. If the Mavericks beat the New Orleans Hornets than they will secure the #7 seed and the Nuggets will be headed to Staples Center.

With the night slowly coming to a close, the Mavericks prevailed over the Hornets, the Nuggets defeat the Grizzlies, and the Denver Nuggets finish the regular season as the #8 seed in the Western Conference. All eight teams finished with at least 50 wins and everyone is quite ready to get the playoffs underway.

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets all three games that the teams faced off this year. Two games were complete blowouts while the third was a more difficult win for the Lakers, but still, a win. Kobe Bryant has seemingly dominated the Nuggets the last few years and I look forward to a great series, with the Lakers prevailing in either a sweep or five games.

Kobe Bryant has led the Los Angeles Lakers to the promised land for the first time without the big deisel. This time around, Kobe had the assistance of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and some great input from a strong bench. The role players on this Lakers team finally assumed their roles and learned how to take advantage of the situations they are given.

The Lakers trailed the New Orleans Hornets by two games for the #1 spot in the Western Conference until New Orleans came to town. The Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant dominated the Hornets for most of the game, it was exciting the last few minutes, and then LA pulled away again with the win. The next game came on Sunday at Staples Center against the San Antonio Spurs. Tim Duncan brought his crew into town in an attempt at taking over the #1 spot in the conference, fortunatley, Manu Ginobli was injured and Pau Gasol was ready to play. The Lakers had control of the game from start to finish and took over the #1 seed in the conference.

With one game left in the regular season, the Sacramento Kings were the final hope for the New Orleans Hornets to have any chance of finishing first in the wild wild west. In a similar fashion to how the last few weeks of the regular season have progressed, the Sacramento Kings were easily dismantled by Kobe Bryant and his recking crew. 8-0 to start the game and a lead that continued to grow well into the 4th quarter. Kobe sat down with 50 seconds remaining in the third period and the white guys went to work. Chris Mihm, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton played most of the 4th quarter and held off the Kings to claim the Los Angeles Lakers’ first conference title since the 99-00 season.

With all the drama surrounding this team well into training camp, with nothing but questions of whether Kobe Bryant will be traded or not, the Lakers have turned this crazy season into the best that they’ve had. The next several days at LABallTalk will be about several topics: Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, and the overall development of the team.

Based on current standings, the Los Angeles Lakers will be facing the Denver Nuggets. Keep in mind that the Lakers have beaten the Nuggets all three times they have played this year.