The Los Angeles Lakers have the inside track at winning the Pacific Division title, but the Los Angeles Clippers are nipping at their heels. Both teams play their final home games of the regular season on Sunday at Staples Center and by the end of the day we could have a new leader atop the division in their race for seeding in the NBA playoffs.
The Lakers won the season series with the Clippers two games to one, and hold the tiebreaker over their crosstown rivals. The Lakers have two games remaining while the Clippers have three left. Of those five games, the Clippers need four outcomes to go their way in order to be crowned division champions for the first time in franchise history.
The magic number however is just two for the Lakers to clinch their fifth consecutive Pacific Division crown. Here are the NBA standings through Saturday:
| NBA Western Conference Standings | |||||
| Seed | Team | W-L | Pct | GB | Remaining Games |
| 1 | San Antonio |
46-16 | .742 | --- | 2 home / 2 road |
| 2 | Oklahoma City |
46-17 | .730 | ½ | 2 home / 1 road |
| 3 | Lakers |
40-24 | .625 | 7 | 1 home / 1 road |
| 4 | Clippers | 39-24 | .619 | 7½ | 1 home / 2 road |
| 5 | Memphis | 39-25 | .609 | 8 | 2 home / 0 road |
| 6 | Denver | 35-28 | .556 | 11½ | 1 home / 2 road |
| 7 | Dallas |
36-29 | .554 | 11½ | 0 home / 1 road |
| 8 | Utah | 34-30 | .531 | 13 | 2 home / 0 road |
| 9 | Phoenix | 33-31 | .516 | 14 | 1 home / 1 road |
| 9 | Houston | 33-31 | .516 | 14 | 1 home / 1 road |
| Through games of April 21 | |||||
The Lakers lead the Clippers by a half-game, but the Lakers have to host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday while the Clippers get the New Orleans Hornets, on the easier end of the Western Conference opponent spectrum. Here are the relevant games on Sunday's schedule:
12:30 p.m. - Oklahoma City at Lakers (ABC)
3 p.m. - Houston at Miami (NBA TV)
4 p.m. - Cleveland at San Antonio
5 p.m. - Orlando at Denver
6:30 p.m. - New Orleans at Clippers (Prime Ticket, NBA TV)
For more news and notes on Lakers basketball, be sure to read Silver Screen and Roll. For all your Clippers information, be sure to read Clips Nation.