5th seed or 7th seed to finish the RS

[TheHartBreakKid]

Obviously, we are fortunate to even be in this situation and for this to be a possibility considering where the season was going.
In addition, the 7th seed is far from something given, and we could easily fall in the 9/10 game with a poor run, so I'm not trying to downplay that possibility either.

However, given the schedule, momentum, etc, it seems like the Lakers are going to most likely end up in the 5-8 range. I think most of us could agree that 6th seed would be ideal. Playing the inexperienced Kings, while avoiding the play-in, seems like the best case scenario for me.

And obviously the 7th seed is preferred to the 8th seed for the play-in, because we would have home court advantage in the first play-in game.

But for me, it gets way more interesting when we are comparing the 5th seed vs the 7th seed.

The 5th seed plays, imo, the toughest potential opponent in the West without home court advantage, which is the Suns. The obvious benefit is that you avoid the play-in, where who knows what might happen. both in terms of results, and in terms of potential injuries. Another benefit is that in a potential WCF against the Clippers or Warriors, the Lakers would have HC if they get there.

The 7th seed would mean needing to win 1 of 2 home games to actually make playoffs. Win the first one, and you play the Grizzlies, a relatively young team, and avoid the Suns until the WCF (or maybe overall), but you will pretty much not have HC advantage for the entire Western playoffs. You might still need to play the Suns in the second round if you lose the first play-in game, and that's if you get past the Nuggets.

To me, it's a tough choice. I'm pessimistic about our chances against the Suns in the 1st round, especially if Lebron remains rusty from outside by then.

That said, anything could happen in the play-in, and the 5th seed would avoid that, not to mention with the team being fully healthy right now, maybe this actually is the best time to play the Suns. And while I have the Suns as the toughest potential western opponent, it's not like the Grizzlies or Nuggets are easy matchups by any means.

I'm curious to hear everyone else's thoughts.

So my question is this:

Assuming the 6th seed is off the table, would you prefer the 5th seed or the 7th seed?