As the only playoff team to conclude the regular season on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers will get an extra day of rest before beginning their postseason run.

With a win, they'll be able to rest easy.

The Lakers can wrap up home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs on Tuesday when they close the regular season against the Sacramento Kings at Staples Center .

Los Angeles (56-25) has won three in a row to move one-half game ahead of New Orleans for the top record in the loaded West. By virtue of a 107-104 victory over the Hornets on Friday, the Lakers ensured they'd own the tie-breaker between the conference's two best teams.

They followed that win over the West's second-best team with a one over the third-best, an impressive 106-85 thrashing of defending champion San Antonio on Sunday.

Now, Los Angeles can clinch the No. 1 seed by beating Sacramento .

"It's still our responsibility to finish this the right way," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "And that was our message in the locker room after the game. Fortunately for us, we got some rest, got some guys who had a little bit of time to recover before Tuesday night."

The Lakers are the fourth-highest scoring team in the NBA, averaging 108.4 points, but lately impressive defense has helped them win. Los Angeles has yielded just 89.0 points per game in its last three victories.

"It's just like offense," Lakers star Kobe Bryant said. "You have to find out what your identity is. I think we have found that defensively. We are very aggressive. We have a tremendous amount of versatility - wings and bigs who are fast and athletic and long. We can get after guys."

Bryant, who has made the NBA's all-defensive first team five times, is averaging only 21.7 points in his last three games, but the Lakers' offensive balance has been on full display. Six players scored in double figures in wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and the Spurs.

Aside from Bryant and the return of injured center Andrew Bynum, no Laker may have as much of an impact on the team's postseason fortunes as Pau Gasol.

Gasol, whom the Lakers acquired from Memphis in February, has never won a postseason game.

He's looked excellent lately, though, tuning up for his first playoff run in Los Angeles . Gasol is averaging 18.3 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 58.1 percent since returning from an ankle injury on April 2.

The Kings (38-43) won't be joining the Lakers in the playoffs, but they've played well down the stretch. They've won six of nine, including wins over Western contenders Houston, Denver and New Orleans .

Sacramento hung in with the Spurs on Monday, but lost 101-98 despite getting 29 points and 10 rebounds from John Salmons.

"It was disappointing that we didn't come through with a win, but that's a championship team," said Salmons. "We can take that into the offseason on a positive note."

The Kings have dropped two of three against the Lakers this season, but won their only trip to Staples Center , 114-113 on March 9. Beno Udrih had 25 points and 10 assists in that victory, and Kevin Martin added 21 points.

Ron Artest has played well against the Lakers this season, averaging 19.7 points in three games, but he's missed four of the Sacramento 's last six games with a sprained thumb.

He's listed as day-to-day.

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