Hot Los Angeles Teams

It would seem much of the mystery as to who wins the NBA East disappeared when Chicago lost Derrick Rose to injury. The Miami Heat are clearly the favorites to return to the NBA Finals. While San Antonio has the best record in the Western Conference and Oklahoma City is also ahead of them let’s consider two Los Angeles basketball teams.

Right now, and it is really early in both baseball and the NBA playoffs but Los Angeles teams are on a roll. The Kings of the NHL gained the last spot in the playoffs and knocked off the top seed Vancouver Canucks in the  first round. Now LA leads the 2nd seed, St. Louis Blues 2 games to none, winning both games in St. Louis. In the NBA, both the Lakers, seeded 3rd in the West, and the Clippers (5th seed), made the playoffs. This is just the 5th time both teams made the playoffs in the same season and one occasion was rightfully, completely overshadowed by the riots in Los Angeles 20 years ago. Then, a horrible situation forced scheduling problems. Now, an abundance of LA team wins may cause far more pleasant scheduling problems as the Lakers playing at home and the Clippers overcoming a 21 point deficit after 3 quarters at Memphis, won their first round opening games.

If all 3 win and since all 3 teams play at the Staples Center there could be scheduling problems. If San Antonio up 1 game to none and heavily favored vs Utah and Oklahoma City, up 2-0 vs defending champion Dallas, win their series, both the Lakers and Clippers would open their next series on the road. Add the Kings up 2-0, who definitely would open a semi-final series on the road, and the likely simultaneous starts of the next rounds (NHL semi-finals and NBA quarterfinals) and you see the potential  problem. Alas it is one game into basketball; the Lakers are about 3 to 1 series favorites and the Clippers, without home advantage, are only slight favorites. Even the Kings, though seemingly in command, are not quite there. Yet it is a nice situation in LA sports with the Dodgers off to a 16-7 start as well. Only the most highly touted LA (or is it Anaheim?) team, the Angels, are not doing well, already 9 games behind Texas in its division. However, remember there are 2 wild card slots open to them if they can not catch Texas.