Are The Lakers The Best Team in The NBA?

Throughout the season, there have been debates about which team is the best in the NBA. From what I have seen over the past few weeks, it would be hard for me not to say that the Los Angeles Lakers are the best in the league.

I’m sure everyone will agree with me when I say that the top-five teams in the NBA (not in any specific order) are the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, and San Antonio Spurs.

The Celtics have what could arguably be the best starting five in the NBA with Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Kendrick Perkins, and have a pretty solid bench.

But their bench depth falls short. They clearly miss James Posey, their best defender from last year’s championship season, and retired big man P.J. Brown, who stabilized the middle off the bench. These two were definitely not All-Stars, but they did fit perfectly into their roles on the team.

After Pierce and Rondo, there aren’t any legit perimeter defenders on the Celtics’ bench. Now, I’m not trying to downplay the bench because it’s definitely filled with talented guys like Eddie House, Glen Davis, and Tony Allen, but there is still the absence of a premier perimeter defender.

The Cavaliers have definitely made an improvement from last season. They are still led by arguably the best player in the NBA in LeBron James, but the addition of guard Mo Williams in the offseason gave the Cavs what seems like the answer to their prayers. They were already a contender for the NBA Finals before Williams, but adding him gave the Cavs the edge they needed to win a title.

What they lacked before was a true point guard to handle the ball, instead of having LeBron do everything on the court. Williams gives the Cavs another playmaker, while also proving to be a scoring threat himself. This gives LeBron more freedom to play off the ball and get open for decent shots, as opposed to having to work for all his shots.

However, Ben Wallace is the only player on that roster with a championship ring, and the Cavs' lack of experience could be their downfall in the end.

The Magic are lead by the best center in the NBA in Dwight Howard, and three additional All-Star-caliber players in Nelson, Turkoglu, and Lewis. Their roster is filled with guys who can flat out shoot the rock and they lead the league in three-point percentage. They are also in the top-ten in field goal percentage and points per game.

However, they start to look less like championship contenders when you look at the playoff experience of the team, as their core players have never been to the Finals.

On a better note, however, they are the only team in this group that has beaten the Lakers more than once this season. This team isn’t quite ready to legitimately contend for a title yet, but given a year or so, they will be.

Slowly but surely the San Antonio Spurs have once again made their way into the discussion of possible NBA champions. After a sluggish start, the Spurs have bounced back, currently holding the second-best record in the West.

Their best weapon this season could quite possibly be newly acquired long-range threat Roger Mason, Jr. His late-game heroics have given the Spurs wins against the Clippers, Suns, Lakers, and most recently, the Celtics.

It also doesn’t hurt the Spurs chances that this is an odd-numbered season, seeing as all four of their championships have come in odd-numbered seasons (1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007.)

Tim Duncan is also playing at an extremely high level and has given the Spurs another chance at a title. One factor that could play against them come playoff time is their advanced age and lack of depth. But only time will tell.

Now we finally get to who I think will be holding the trophy come June, the Los Angeles Lakers.

This team was on a roll and looked like the favorite to win it all until Bynum went down with another knee injury. But just when all seemed lost, Kobe came out of the ashes and dropped 61 points (setting a Madison Square Garden record) against the Knicks.

His outburst was a statement game to his teammates that the season was far from over. And it looked like his teammates were listening loud and clear.

The following Thursday, they went into Boston Garden and shut down the defending champion Celtics in an overtime thriller. The Lakers followed that up by going into Quicken Loans Arena and ending the Cavs 23-game home win streak. The Lakers have the best closer in the league in Kobe Bryant and have proven that they can win anywhere.

The Lakers, without Bynum, still have as good a chance as any to return to the NBA Finals and come away with the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time in seven years.