For the record, the back-to-back National Basketball Association champion Los Angeles Lakers posted a 16-7 record in the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Going 11-1 at home and 5-6 on the road, the Lakers downed the Oklahoma City Thunder, 4-2, in first-round play in the Western Conference. They subsequently swept the Utah Jazz, 4-0, in the conference semifinals, took care of the Phoenix Suns, 4-2, in the conference finals, and finally whipped the Boston Celtics, 4-3, in the NBA Finals, to claim their second straight crown.

It’s said that the Lakers meditated prior to each game of the Finals – most likely on the instruction of Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, the Zen Master.

Overall, LA was 11-1 at home (losing just once against the Celtics in Game Two of the Finals at the Staples Center) and 5-6 on the road.

Eight Lakers suited up during the entire 23-game postseason run – starters Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher and Andrew Bynum and substitutes Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmer.

Bryant naturally led the way in the Lakers’ successful title-retention quest.

The back-to-back Finals Most Valuable Player awardee averaged 29.2 points (on .458 field-goal shooting), 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.35 steals per game, notwithstanding an assortment of injuries (knee, ankle and a dislocated finger on both hands).

Gasol, Bryant’s top sidekick from Spain, registered per-game norms of 19.6 points (on a .539 FG clip), 11.1 boards, 3.5 assists and 2.09 blocks. A year ago, the 7-foot Gasol became the Spaniard to win an NBA championship ring as the Lakers crushed the Orlando Magic in five games during the Finals.

Aside from Bryant and Gasol, two other Lakers owned twin-digit scores in the 2010 playoffs. They are Artest (11.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg – check this out, the small forward he replaced in the Lakers’ starting lineup from last season, current Houston Rocket Trevor Ariza, chalked up averages of 11.3 ppg and 4.2 rpg in the 2009 playoffs) and Fisher (10.3 ppg, 2.8 apg).

Odom, the 6-10 “point” forward, averaged 9.7 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 2.0 apg as the first Laker off the bench.

Bynum, the 22-year-old starting center, contributed 8.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 1.57 bpg while beset by a right knee injury throughout the playoffs. The 7-foot prep-to-pro strongman is scheduled to undergo surgery in mid-July after a trip to South Africa to watch the World Cup of soccer.

Meanwhile, only seven Laker players have contracts for next season or beyond – Bryant, Gasol, Artest, Odom, Bynum, Luke Walton and Slovenian guard Sasha Vujacic, who’s now off to England to watch his girlfriend, beauteous Russian star Maria Sharapova, play in the Wimbledon tournament.

Fisher, Farmar (who has publicly stated that he’s leaving the Lakers to seek a starting job elsewhere) and Brown, along with seldom-utilized reserves Adam Morrison, D.J. Mbenga and Josh Powell, are eligible for free agency on July 1.

Even Jackson, the winningest player and/or coach in NBA history with 12 rings (a record 11 as a head coach and one as a New York Knicks player in 1973), is a free agent.

Jackson’s astronomical contract expires at month’s end and word is out that he is leaning toward retirement due to some health issues (hips, knee and heart). The Zen Master said his inclination to leave the Lakers is not about money or dissatisfaction with the organization. He will officially announce his decision on June 28 (Manila time).

Jackson, who turns 65 in September, is the NBA’s highest-salaried mentor at $12 million per annum. He also earned another $2 million in performance bonus following the Lakers’ title success against the Celtics.

With the NBA losing money – that’s around $400 million, according to league commissioner David Stern – this past season, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, however, has asked Jackson to take a pay cut if he decides to return to the Lakers in 2010-11.