Kobe Bryant: Lakers will make playoffs

Kobe Bryant is a confident fellow, so it’s no surprise that he is guaranteeing the Lakers will make the playoffs despite their struggles.

“It’s not a question of if we make the playoffs. We will,” Bryant told Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum in an interview. “And when we get there, I have no fear of anyone — Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver … whoever. I have zero nervousness about that.”

Los Angeles is 26-29 and ninth in the Western Conference. They are 4.5 games behind the Houston Rockets for the last spot in the West, so they have some work to do. But the Lakers have gone 9-4 in their last 13 games, and they have beaten teams like the Thunder and Nets recently, which could have Kobe feeling confident.

Even though they are the Lakers, and even though they are supposed to compete for the championship, I don’t think it’s as simple as Kobe says. The Lakers are so inconsistent they still drop games to bad teams like the Suns. They would probably need to go around 18-9 and hope other teams drop off over the next two months just to get into the playoffs. I don’t see that happening.