Michael Ventre

Bottom feeders. Soon there will be nothing left to nibble on except lottery biscuits.

Stale lottery biscuits.

Once the NBA playoffs begin, the attention will turn to teams like Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio in the West, and Detroit, Miami and maybe Chicago and Cleveland in the East, because those are the clubs with a legitimate chance to win the championship.

But over these final three days of the NBA’s regular season, it’s the bottom feeders — the Western variety — who will generate some temporary buzz. After all, without the bottom feeders fighting it out amongst themselves, the elite might not be able to decide which team to devour.

The Lakers avoided a major embarrassment Sunday night when they did something uncharacteristic: They defeated a team that they should have beaten. Usually, the Lakers play down, way down, to their competition, and they usually come away humiliated. But thanks to another 50-point performance from Kobe Bryant, the Lakers clinched a playoff berth with a victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

Now the Lakers are not only officially among the bottom feeders, but they may even finish at the No. 7 spot, thus earning the right to get torched by the Phoenix Suns rather than the Dallas Mavericks. The Suns clinched the No. 2 spot. In this most enigmatic of seasons, the Lakers will take rays of hope where they can find them.

The Lakers have one game remaining, Wednesday at Sacramento. If they win that, they’ll finish at No. 7, ahead of either the Golden State Warriors or the Clippers.

Befitting their strangely disappointing season, the Clippers gagged Sunday on an opportunity to establish a postseason footing. Instead, they may get the boot.

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They lost at home to the Sacramento Kings and now need help. If the sizzling Warriors win their final two games, which is not a cinch by any means — they play Dallas at home Tuesday and then travel to Portland for their finale Wednesday night — then they’re in and the Clips are out. If the teams are tied, the Clippers get the playoff nod by virtue of a better division mark. But the way the Clips have finished the season — losing four of their last six — it seems likely they’ll be booking cruises and tee times soon.

On Tuesday, the Clippers play at Phoenix. That could be it right there; they’ve lost two of three thus far to the Suns, who have won five in a row entering Monday night’s game at Houston and have triumphed in eight of their last nine. Then the Clippers finish up at home against the Hornets on Wednesday.

In retrospect, their season came down to Sunday’s game against the Kings, which probably means that the crew at Staples Center will only have to prepare one logo-ed floor and not two.

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The Rockets are in a position of strength to get the home-court advantage over the Jazz. They have a two-game edge over Utah entering the final three days and all they have to do is win one of their remaining two.

There is some intrigue in the East, where LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are battling for the No. 2 seed. The result will probably have more of an impact on fans than it will on the teams involved.

If the Cavs get the second seed and play the Nets, who should finish in the seventh spot, then the marquee will feature LeBron against the tag team of Jason Kidd and Vince Carter. If not, if the Cavs get the third seed, they’ll play the Washington Wizards, who would be without injured stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. The league might decide to televise that series on ESPN 4.

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