The Buzz Is In Los Angeles

It's all smiles in Los Angeles, and the Kings are a big reason why.

What do the Los Angeles Lakers, Kings and Clippers have in common? Well for one they are all from Los Angeles, obviously. Secondly, they all play in the Staples Center. But that's about it. The Lakers are the cream of the NBA organizational crop, trailing only the Boston Celtics in championship banners. They've had some of the greatest players in the history of the NBA and are pretty much synonymous with the NBA. The Clippers, on the other hand, are widely considered one of the worst organizations in sports, let alone basketball. Since moving to Los Angeles from San Diego in '84 the Clips have only won one playoff series and have made numerous organizational blunders that live on in infamy. Finally we have the Los Angeles Kings who have only been to one Stanley Cup in their history and have the unfortunate title of almost screwing up Wayne Gretzky immaculate legacy. However for the first time since 1993 all three Staples Centers tenants are in the playoffs and actually are looking strong.

This year's version of the Los Angeles Lakers has been an interesting one. Despite having preseason expectations of being old, injury prone and no longer overwhelmingly long in the post, the Lakers are sitting pretty at the #3 seed in the West. Though they're without Metta World War for the first seven playoff games the Lakers are an interesting pick going forward. Yes, they are a bit old, though they got much younger trading longtime vet Derek Fisher in favor of a younger, yet untested, Ramon Sessions at the deadline. L.A. has witnessed the transformation of Andrew Bynum from an immature, awkward big man with cheese knees into a monster rebounder, scoring and overall post-presence. They've also watched Kobe Bryant put up major minutes in a compressed lockout season and play like the old Kobe. Well the Kobe that shoots a lot, scores a lot and makes a lot of noise in the locker room. Kobe is on a quest for his sixth ring which would put him on the Jordan plateau and make that Kobe, MJ argument actually relevant. If the Lakers can somehow get by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Semis then there is a pretty good chance that Kobe could meet Lebron in the Finals and we all know how that would go(or so we hope).

In the offseason the Clippers made a serious splash landing superstar Chris Paul to team up with highlight reel man Blake Griffin, block party connoisseur DeAndre Jordan and a slew of decent guards. For once L.A.'s second team was making headlines for all the right reasons. CP3 gave this team instant credibility and allowed the Clippers to enter the realm of relevancy for the first time since Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson were doing their head pat celebration or whatever it was. But even this talented Clippers team couldn't escape a classic Clipper fiasco. Chris Paul and co. brought about a mutiny between the squad and their head coach Vinny Del Negro. At one point in February it was so bad that people were saying VDN wouldn't make it through the year, but the squad got itself back together with a couple big winning streaks and looks poised to make some noise in the playoffs. But at the same time a lot of people don't have faith in Blake Griffin on the defensive end, and a banged up Chris Paul needs to play at a hundred percent for the Clippers to actually be a serious contender. Either way, the Clippers are in the playoffs, completely relevant and while they might not be the basketball purists favorite squad, they are exciting to watch.

For the last two years the Kings have started to really knock on the Western Conference door. They lost both first round series, but really turned it on this year(or at least til the last week of the season). With Vezina candidate Jonathon Quick and his silly 1.95 GAA leading the way, the Kings are already making plenty of headway in the playoffs. Even though they were an eight seed, they actually were the #3 seed until the last week of the season when the Phoenix Coyotes ripped their heart out and sent them to the eighth and final spot. Long story short: they're not your typical #8 seed. But even with the knowledge of the Kings talent, the world was still shocked when they quickly brushed aside the President Trophy winning Canucks in five games. This team has the scoring depth and absurdly hot goaltending that is necessary for them to win a cup. For the first time since the Great One laced up his skates in city of Angels, the Los Angeles Kings are for real, like really for real. 

The city of Los Angeles is sky high right now. All three teams have their eyes on deep playoff runs and all three have a realistic shot at doing so. Not like L.A. needs anymore excitement in their bright lights, big city, but they've got something coming. I really like the Kings in the West and I wouldn't be surprised to see Kobe and co. take Oklahoma City out for some good old fashion "7 games from hell." The Clippers are more just a nice little novelty that L.A. can tuck in its back pocket for good measure and a bunch of epic youtube videos. I'll tell you what, Los Angeles will be the place to be for the next two months and not for all the celebrities, good weather and beautiful women. Enjoy this L.A. because this could be one of the greatest city runs ever. Think spring of '94 in MSG, but a little less rugged.