If the Lakers have the best record in the league how could Cleveland and Boston have clinched playoff spots1st?

If the Lakers have (and have had) the best record in the league for a while now, how could Boston and Cleveland have clinched playoff spots they have not? How exactly do you clinch a playoff spot then?If the Lakers have the best record in the league how could Cleveland and Boston have clinched playoff spots1st?
Playoff spots are determined by conference. Boston and Cleveland are in the East, where there are more bad teams thus making it easier to make the playoffs. Clinching a playoff spot means that even if Boston or Cleveland lose all their games starting today, they cannot be worse than number 8 for their conference at the end of the season.
Like the first person stated playoffs positions are clinched by

conferences. The Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.

The Lakers are in the Western Conference ( California ), and the

Boston and Cleveland are located in the Eastern Conference.

You basically clinch playoffs spots by racking up wins, its

as easy as that. I hope i helped.

( i need the points so i was wondering if you can vote me

as best answer, thanks )If the Lakers have the best record in the league how could Cleveland and Boston have clinched playoff spots1st?
They are above their division rivals by an extensive 20 games or so and the season is 20 games remaining for most teams. Suns are like what only 8 games away from LA.
because the east in weak, 9-15 are so far behind 1-3.
Because in the west, the other teams are not far enough behind for the Lakers to clinch a playoff spot. You can clinch a spot when there is no way the other teams in your conference are gonna drop u out off the playoffs even if u lose all the games u have left to play.
Boston and Cleveland are in different conferences. The Eastern teams officially cannot catch up with them now. In the West, there isn't too big of a deficit for the other teams, so there's a chance the Lakers still won't make the playoffs.
if you look at the standings in the eastern conference boston and cleveland both have huge leads over their seconds place teams. so in other words if they lose the rest of the way and the other teams win all of theirs, there is not enough games for them to be out of the contest. Lakers in the other hand are in the tougher conference, the second place team (San Antonio) is only 8.5 games behind and the last team in the race for the playoffs is Pheonix. so if the Lakers lose the rest of the way and pheonix wins then they can still get kicked off the race.
Teams clinch playoff spots when the regular season is winding down. Cleveland and Boston are very much ahead of their own divisions (17.5 games and 14.5 games ahead of the next division opponent). However the Lakers have a smaller lead over the San Antonio Spurs (8.5 games).
Because the Western Conference has more teams that are closer together record-wise