OK, Lakers win over Kings who were without Artest, Miller and Martin. Curiously, Artest did not play. I guess he didn’t want to get embarrassed by a Laker team wanting to claim the top seed. Or maybe… he is planning on joining the Lakers next season and this is his goodwill present. Crazy!

Anyways, as L.A. clinches the top seed, stories have now sprouted from NBA columnists of how dramatic the Lakers rise came to be. Now, wait a minute. The Lakers just won the top seed in the west, not the finals. Save it for later, don’t you think. The Dallas tragedy is still fresh in my mind.

Anyways (again), I read this nice article from Maurice Brooks:

The Lakers, who still don’t have Bynum back in their lineup, won the most challenging conference in NBA history because Bryant — playing most of the season with a hand that needs surgery — learned to trust his teammates and his teammates rewarded his newfound faith by making plays.

Correction, sir. It’s the other way around. His teammates improved, thus, his trust.

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