As I have been giving this site my all for the last year and a half, I have hit a bit of a dry spell in the last several weeks.

Many of you know that I have committed lots of my time to building Sasha Vujacic’s official site and contribute on a regular basis. Due to various obstacles in life, such as a failing economy and endless midterms, I have not been able to post articles as of late.

I haven’t even been able to watch an entire Lakers game in the last month… imagine how I feel about all this?

With that said, I am trying to get back on track.

The Lakers are sitting pretty on top of the Western Conference and are tied with the Cavaliers for the best record in the league at 53-13.

Only 16 games remain and the Lakers schedule is easier than that of the Cavs. I truly believe the Lakers will finish strong and will edge out the Cavs for home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

ESPN has had the Lakers in the top spot in the Power Rankings for six straight weeks now and I look forward to them staying there for the rest of the season. They clearly deserve it at this point.

The bench players for the Lakers have done a great job in stepping up when they are most needed. Ariza has been moved to the starting lineup and has worked very hard to make every minute count. Yesterday’s game against the Mavericks allowed Ariza to score a career high 26 points and dominate the game in many ways.

Jordan, Powell, Sasha, and Mbenga have also seen an increase in minutes and are all a big part of this team’s success. Kobe and Pau seem to have developed even more of a bond on the court as they seem to connect on really nice plays regularly.

The coaching staff has found a nice mix of minuts that allows each player to be comfortable with the time that they are on the court.  I’d expect to see a bit more change in the minutes played for each of the bench guys in the coming weeks. I’d also keep a close eye on Sasha as I believe his playing time will go up as the playoffs get closer.