What the LA Lakers' Perfect Road Trip Means in the Race for Home-Court Advantage

Who would have thought that the Lakers would gain two games on both the Cavs and Celtics during their road trip—especially after losing Andrew Bynum in the second game of the trip?

The Lakers didn't just win another road game against one of the league's best teams on Sunday.

They didn't just ruin the Cleveland Cavaliers' perfect home record.

They didn't just become the first team in the history of the NBA to win back-to-back road games against two teams with winning percentages of .800 or better this late in the season.

And they didn't just complete one of the most impressive road trips in the franchise's storied history either.

What the Lakers did by accomplishing all of those things was put themselves in the driver's seat for home-court advantage in the NBA Playoffs—something that Phil Jackson and Doc Rivers have both stated publicly is of utmost importance in their respective quests to add another ring to his individual collection.

At 41-9 the Lakers have the best record in the NBA. They have one fewer loss than the Cavs and two fewer losses than the Celtics.

With those two victories comes an asterisk.

Since the Lakers swept the season series from both teams they can now add an invisible "plus-one" to the standings by virtue of winning both head-to-head tie-breakers.

They might be two losses better than the Celtics but the Celtics would need to make up three games to pass them in the race for home-court advantage. The same goes for their one game lead over the Cavs who would have to make up two games.

Not insurmountable by any means but not very easy when you consider what lies ahead for the three teams.

Sunday's victory also means the Lakers have finished playing their three toughest opponents and we're not even at the All-Star Game yet.

Those three teams—the Celtics, Cavs, and Magic still have to play two more games against the other two teams this season and one team will have to lose each of those games.

Much was made about the Lakers' home-heavy schedule before they embarked on their road trip because only 27 of their first 44 games were at Staples Center (29 if you include the two road games against the Clippers).

But now that home/road split stands at a more balanced 27 home games to 23 road games.

The Lakers are by no means in the clear with five more road games ahead of them in the month of February alone. But three of those five are against the Timberwolves, Thunder, and Warriors. The other two, against the Jazz and Nuggets, are both on the second night of back-to-backs.

And what about Boston and Cleveland?

On Wednesday the Celtics begin their own stretch of six straight road games, all of which are against Western Conference teams—the same conference responsible for seven of the their 11 losses (including all four of their losses at home).

The first two games of the trip are a back-to-back with New Orleans and Dallas on Wednesday and Thursday. The trip then resumes after the All-Star break with three in a row against Utah, Phoenix, and Denver before ending with a game against the Clippers on Feb. 25.

The pressure is on the Celtics to either win all six or five of the six or they risk falling to an almost-insurmountable four or five games back of the Lakers heading into March.

The road ahead isn't much easier for Cleveland.

When a team is 39-10 it's easy to overlook the fact that all but one of the Cavaliers' 10 losses have come on the road.

While 16-9 isn't necessarily a bad road record it isn't exactly über-impressive either.

Starting Tuesday, the Cavs begin a stretch of 11 out of 16 games on the road—including a game at Indiana (where both the Lakers and Celtics have fallen victim this season), back-to-backs with Houston and San Antonio and Atlanta and Miami, followed by a game in Boston against the Celtics.

If the Lakers take advantage of this opportunity in front of them and increase their lead by as little as two more games over both the Celtics and Cavs before the end of February the pressure on them heading into March will decrease considerably.

March will see the Lakers play 10 of their 15 games on the road, including a three-game road trip to Portland, Houston, and San Antonio as well as a seven-game road trip that begins March 21 but only has them playing two teams who made the playoffs last season.

What the Lakers did in winning all six games of the road trip is put themselves in control of their own destiny and apply immense pressure on both the Celtics and Cavs to either match or exceed their own road success.