The Los Angeles Lakers are currently the hottest team in the NBA.  They have won eight consecutive games, and have not lost since the All-Star break.  They have beaten the San Antonio Spurs during this current win streak.  This winning streak so close to the start of the play-offs has turned the perception that the Lakers were not the team that they have been the previous three years.  Now they are looking more and more like the two-time reigning NBA champions and three-time Western Conference champions.

I for one have thought this all along.  I heard Derek Fisher come out and talk about how they have been pacing themselves for the season because of how much basketball they have played over the last three years.  That seemed like a very good explanation to me.  When you consider that they have played probably 10 months of basketball for the last three years, you realize that that is a lot of basketball.  So for them to pace themselves throughout the regular season only makes sense.  However, they do need to make sure that they get a high enough playoff seed to ensure home-court advantage at least up until the conference championship round.