The Los Angeles Lakers have their longest road trip of the season looming later this week, so the Western Conference's best team would like to build a little momentum at home.
They'd especially like to forget about their most recent finish.
The Lakers will try to bounce back from a last-second loss when they host the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night in their last game at Staples Center for more than two weeks.
Los Angeles (53-14) has looked like the favorite to earn home-court advantage throughout the playoffs ever since it came home from a 6-0 road trip last month that concluded with wins over fellow contenders Boston and Cleveland.
The Lakers had been 7-0 at Staples Center since returning, and appeared to have an eighth straight home win well in hand Tuesday night, leading Philadelphia by 14 in the fourth quarter.
The 76ers came back, though, and Andre Iguodala answered Kobe Bryant's late jumper with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Philadelphia a 94-93 win.
Los Angeles had a similar scenario unfold Sunday at home against Dallas , as it blew a 15-point lead late in the third before rallying to win 107-100."It's two games in a row and it's uncharacteristic," Lamar Odom said after recording his third straight double-double. "It's not like it's been a problem for us all year. We're going to watch the film of the last two games and get ready for Golden State ."
The loss combined with a Cavaliers win dropped the Lakers a full game behind Cleveland in the race for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Lakers haven't lost consecutive home games since a three-game skid from March 23-28 last season, and a visit from the Warriors (24-43) would seem to be a good opportunity to make sure that doesn't happen.
Los Angeles has averaged 124.3 points in winning all three meetings with Golden State this season, and it's won 13 of 15 overall in the series and 10 of 11 at Staples Center .
Finding a way to stop Pau Gasol, who's scored at least 20 in his last four games, has been the Warriors' biggest problem. Gasol has averaged 23.3 points and 13.3 rebounds against Golden State, including a 33-point, 18-rebound effort in a 114-106 comeback win in Oakland on Jan. 7.The Warriors, who allow a league-worst 112.3 points per game, haven't had much success stopping anybody this season, particularly Sunday when they gave up an NBA season-high 154 points to Phoenix in a 24-point loss.
They weren't much better Tuesday, allowing the Los Angeles Clippers to scored 69 points in the second half, but Monta Ellis matched his season high with 29 points in a 127-120 win.
"He took another nice step," coach Don Nelson said. "There's nothing wrong with being a scoring point guard. He tried to make plays, ran what coach wanted and showed good vision."
Ellis, who's played only 17 games during a tumultuous season in which he's been suspended by the team and bothered by an ankle injury, has averaged 28.0 points in his last three games.
The Warriors beat the Clippers without two of their top scorers. Stephen Jackson was suspended for one game for accruing 16 technical fouls over the course of the season, and he should return Thursday.
Jamal Crawford, however, won't. Crawford, who's topped 20 points in all three games against Los Angeles this season, will sit for a second straight game as Nelson gives more minutes to second-year guard Marco Belinelli.
The Lakers begin their seven-game trip Saturday night against Chicago .
Five-star prospect from Southwest Atlanta Christian School, making the McDonald's All-America team as well as third-team Parade and EA Sports All-America teams following his senior year ... Rated as high as No. 6 nationally (Hoop Scoop) and was the top-rated point guard in the country according to Rivals, No. 3 by Scout.com ... Final PrepStars.com ranking was No. 20.
A 3.5 GPA student who was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America and the Senior Beta Club ... Played in the summers with the Atlanta Celtics AAU team.
