Lakers' LeBron James Admits It's Hard to Ignore Tight Playoff Race

Riding high on a league-best 10-game win streak, the 63-12 Oklahoma City Thunder have firmly established their hierarchical place as the Western Conference's No. 1 seed, even with seven games remaining on their regular season schedule.

Oklahoma City paces the West's current No. 2 seed, the 49-27 Houston Rockets, by a whopping 14.5 games.

But that's where things get interesting.

Only 5.5 games separate the Rockets from the conference's No. 8 seed, the 43-32 L.A. Clippers. The 46-29 Los Angeles Lakers, who just vanquished Houston 104-98 on Tuesday, are just 2.5 games behind the Rockets for the No. 2 seed — and a single game shy of catching the No. 3-seeded Denver Nuggets (47-28).

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Los Angeles' victory against Houston marked its seventh consecutive home win over the Rockets. Five-time All-NBA First Team Lakers guard Luka Doncic probably enjoyed the play of the game with this deadly crossover against Rockets All-Star big man Alperen Sengun.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/Bzc9jmhKJK
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 1, 2025

As Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times observes, Lakers players are hardly immune to keeping tabs on the West standings as the postseason looms.

Lakers hold off Rockets to score important home win amid playoff seeding race https://t.co/6qXQ1wokos
— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) April 1, 2025

“This year in particular, it’s so close and people are jumping each other, falling behind, whatever the case may be,” 21-time All-Star Lakers power forward LeBron James said of the West standings. “I don’t do it every day, but it’s talked about pretty much all the time and you kind of see where you’re at. For us obviously, our mission is to lock in a playoff spot and not have to play in the play-in. So, we understand what’s at stake.”

Against the Rockets, reserve 3-and-D Los Angeles forward Dorian Finney-Smith notched a season-high 20 points (including 6-of-11 shooting from distance) and played surprisingly adept defense of 6-foot-11 backup Rockets center Steven Adams.

“It feels good when guys like [All-NBA First Team Lakers guard Doncic] and LeBron are telling me to shoot,” Finney-Smith said. “It could be the other way around.”

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Finney-Smith conceded that he, too, is tracking the playoff race in the West.

“Everybody is paying attention. Let’s be honest,” Finney-Smith noted when asked about following the league standings. “Everybody is looking at the standings. We don’t want to be in the play-in, so every game matters.”

On that front, the Lakers are just three games clear of the 43-32 Minnesota Timberwolves, the West's current No. 7 seed.

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