<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">PHOENIX ? The Laker season could come to its effective end tonight, 15 days before the regular season concludes, nine weeks before the NBA Finals begin. If the Lakers lose to the Phoenix Suns, who happen to have the league's best record, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers won't extend into May or June, and will just barely get past mid-April. With 11 losses in their last 12 games, it's more a matter of when elimination will happen. The Lakers will play tonight without Lamar Odom, and possibly Kobe Bryant and Chris Mihm, as the Nuggets try for their 18th victory in their last 20 games. The Lakers have nine games left and are 8 1/2 behind the Grizzlies and Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They lost the season series to the Grizzlies, 3-0, but split with the Nuggets, 2-2, keeping them mathematically alive for tiebreaker scenarios if the Nuggets lose their final 10 games and the Lakers win their final nine. In other words, the Lakers are about to become only the seventh team in league history to miss the playoffs after having reached the NBA Finals the previous season.</div> Source
