Lakers Beat Jazz, Clinch #1 Seed in NBA West Playoffs

Anthony Davis scored 42 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 116-108 August 3rd to clinch the #1 seed in the NBA Western Conference. The Lakers (51-15) are six games ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers with five games left. Utah (42-25) has also clinched a playoff berth and is currently the #5 seed in the West, just a half game behind #4 Houston and a half game ahead of #6 Oklahoma City.

LeBron James had 22 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Lakers, and veteran center Dwight Howard scored 11 and had five rebounds off the bench. Donavon Mitchell scored 33 for Utah, Mike Conley scored 24 points, and Rudy Gobert had a double double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

This will be the first time the Lakers have been in the playoffs since the 2012-13 season, when they were swept in the first round by San Antonio. Last year, even with the addition of LeBron, the Lakers were just 37-45. The extreme makeover went into high gear after that, with the addition of Davis, but also with pickups Howard, Danny Green, and Avery Bradley (though Bradley has opted out for the remainder of the season) among others, plus a new head coach in Frank Vogel, has turned the team into one of the favorites for the championship.