The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have had one hell of a year filled with turmoil, trade rumors and a number of injuries to some of their best players.

Despite everything this team has gone through in their title defense, Kobe Bryant and company have been able to pull it together and clinch the number one seed in the Western Conference for the third straight season.

Even though most people have been doubting the Lakers ability to compete for another NBA title this season, the best team in the West is definitely up for the challenge heading into the playoffs which is just around the corner.

The Western Conference playoff seeding is very much up in the air at this point in time with a lot of teams in the conference battling for the second seed, but the defending champs have the number one spot clinched and know who they will be facing in the first round the playoffs.

All week long there has been a debate on which of the three teams at the bottom of the West will end up playing the defending NBA champs, but now that debate is over as the Oklahoma City Thunder have officially clinched a playoff berth and will head into the playoffs as the eighth spot.

This is a pretty favorable matchup for the Los Angeles Lakers as the Oklahoma City Thunder are a young and upcoming team with no playoff experience and almost certainly headed for a first round exit.

If the Lakers ended up facing the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round they would fear the Rose Garden where the champs really struggle and if the San Antonio Spurs had become the eighth seed the rivalry between the two teams would have enough to make Phil Jackson nervous.

As a way to prepare for their first round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder and help heal his injured index finger, Kobe Bryant has elected to miss the final two games of the NBA regular season against the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Clippers.

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