Kobe Bryant believes he will win his sixth NBA championship this season.

"I expect to win it, absolutely," Bryant said. "I think the thing that's our biggest strength is our versatility and our size. (Ramon) Sessions has added another dimension to our team in terms of speed and point guard that can score the ball. Our bench has been playing extremely well. We've been shooting the ball extremely well, and our biggest key is our perimeter shooting, limiting our turnovers, and keeping the game at our pace. If we can do those things in the postseason, I like our chances."

The Lakers will face either the Nuggets or Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.

"Everybody's a problem," Bryant said when asked about potential matchups. "The Western Conference has been tough from top to bottom now for years. There are no easy matchups. You can't look at one particular matchup and say, 'OK, that's going to be an easy series. That's going to be a gimme series.' That just doesn't happen in the Western Conference.

"The Clippers have a good seed at the four slot, and they've got to face Memphis. You're looking at us in the third slot, and we've got to deal with a Denver team that's incredibly active and a great scoring team or we've got to play the defending champs. There's no easy matchup."