The Lakers are coming into the playoffs with momentum and optimism.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers returned home to square off against a Western Conference foe in the Houston Rockets following a successful three-game road trip.

With the Lakers able to lock up the third seed in the West with a win, talk has begun to shift to how this Lakers team could possibly fair in the playoffs.

Prior to the Lakers’ game against the Rockets, head coach JJ Redick gave an honest admission as to the team’s focus this season and possible championship hopes.

“It’s every team’s goal to win a championship. It’s something that I think we’ve talked about as a group, but we make no assumptions,” Redick said. “I think the biggest thing that we’ve done is really just focused on the next thing in front of us. And the next thing in front of us is Houston and trying to get the third seed.”

“And then the next thing in front of that would be our opponent in the first round,” Redick continued. “And that’s just how we have to operate and think. But I’ve said all season that I have a very high belief level in the group.”

The Lakers currently sit in the No. 3 spot in the West standings, and a full game ahead of the Denver Nuggets who are in fourth. While the Lakers can clinch the third seed with a win against the Rockets, their potential opponent in the first round of the playoffs is much less certain. As of publication, the Nuggets, LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves were all separated by a single game.

In JJ Redick’s first season at the helm as Lakers head coach, he’s led the team to a playoff finish outright by clinching no worse than a top six seed.

The past two seasons, the Lakers have had to go through the play-in to ultimately make the playoffs. They were eliminated by the Nuggets in back-to-back postseasons. But championship hopes have been renewed for the Lakers following their blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic.

Before the game against the Rockets, Redick spoke about his time with the Orlando Magic and how an in-season trade for Rafer Alston helped power a run to the NBA Finals.

The Magic had lost starting point guard Jameer Nelson who was having an All-Star season, and needed some kind of a jolt.

“We traded for Rafer and we had to figure that out on the fly. We were a little bit above .500 after the Rafer trade, but the group figured it out kind of on the fly in the playoffs,” Redick said. “I’ve talked about this before, you make trades in the NBA in season at that level like with Luka, there’s a handful of examples in NBA history that led to a championship.”