You may hate them but...

**Unchained** · April 12th, 2008, 10:30 PM

Time to pass out the props to the Lakers. Woot Woot! With all the injury to Bynum and all that biz. It is good to be a Laker fan [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif[/img] Message sent to the Hornets. The addition of Gasol is as key as a team has had in ages (impressive that the Lakers were 6-1 or so when Gasol was injured-lost to the Rockets)

April 12, 2008
CBSSports.com wire reports

LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant flashed a big smile after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to victory in their most important game of the season.

It was the smile of a champion.

"It's good to be No. 1," Bryant said after the Lakers blew all but one point of a 30-point lead before beating the New Orleans Hornets 107-104 Friday night to clinch the Pacific Division championship. "This was the first step. We want to take another one Sunday."

Bryant had 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers (55-25), who will enter the playoffs seeded no lower than third in the Western Conference, meaning they'll have homecourt advantage in the first round.

"It's a pleasant surprise," Bryant said of the Lakers' first division title in four years. "It's a testament to our hard work and our unity."

Bryant had a reason to be surprised, considering the Lakers haven't won a playoff series since reaching the NBA Finals in 2004, and weren't expected to be in this position before the season started.

The Lakers (55-25) have a chance to do even more. They trail the conference-leading Hornets by a half-game, and will win the West if they can beat visiting San Antonio on Sunday and Sacramento on Tuesday night and New Orleans (55-24) loses one of its final three games. The Hornets play road games against the Kings and Dallas Mavericks and a home game against the Clippers.

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If Los Angeles and New Orleans finish with the same record, the Lakers win the West and home-court advantage at least until the NBA Finals because of a better record against conference opponents. The teams split their four regular-season games.

"I think we will win our last three games, so if that means we'll win the West, I guess so," Hornets star Chris Paul said.

Pau Gasol added 25 points, Derek Fisher scored 15, and Lamar Odom had 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Lakers, who never trailed for the 14th time this season but weren't assured of victory until the final minute.

"We were happy that we didn't get into 50 minutes today, only 48," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

Peja Stojakovic led the Hornets with 24 points. Tyson Chandler added 18 points and eight rebounds, Jannero Pargo scored 17 points and Paul had 15 points and 17 assists.

"They were just physical and much more aggressive," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "They were playing with a purpose. We were out there playing a basketball game. And that's the difference."

The Lakers were as close to perfect as could be in taking a 63-33 lead late in the second quarter. Paul and the Hornets suddenly got their game together, outscoring the Lakers 36-10 to move within four points with 3:51 left in the third period.

Bryant scored 10 points during a 17-6 run that extended the Lakers' lead to 92-77 with 9:25 remaining, and the sellout crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center chanted, "MVP, MVP, MVP" during most of the timeout that followed.

But the Hornets bounced back again, outscoring the Lakers 12-1 to draw within four points. Sasha Vujacic made a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a seven-point lead, but back-to-back 3's by Stojakovic trimmed the Lakers' lead to 96-95 with 3:58 remaining.

Ronny Turiaf then made two free throws for his only points of the game, Fisher added a 3-pointer, and Bryant made a foul shot to give the Lakers a seven-point lead with 2:39 left. New Orleans wasn't closer than five again until Pargo made a 3 at the buzzer.

When asked about the possibility of winning the MVP award, Bryant said: "The MVP nowadays is not an individual award, you really have to make your teammates better and elevate your ballclub. I think for me to be nominated in that race is a tremendous honor because that's really been one of the criticisms people have had of me, how well I make my teammates better. From that standpoint, I feel like I have already won."

A basket by Bryant with just under four minutes left in the second quarter extended the Lakers' lead to 30. Paul had only one point before scoring six during a 12-2 run to finish the second quarter, pulling New Orleans within 20.

For the Hornets, that was just the beginning.

Gasol scored 11 points, Bryant and Odom added 10 each, and the Lakers outrebounded the Hornets 14-3 while taking a 39-20 first-quarter lead. The 39 points matched the Lakers' highest-scoring first quarter this season.

Notes
Lakers C Andrew Bynum, sidelined since injuring his left knee Jan. 13, said before the game that he doesn't know when he'll return. "I guess I'll just play when I'm ready," he said. A knee specialist who examined Bynum on Wednesday wouldn't clear him for practice. Bynum said he didn't know when he'd be examined again. The playoffs begin next weekend.
The Hornets entered having won six of seven road games to raise their road record to 26-12, the NBA's second-best record behind Boston's 29-10 mark.
Lakers F Trevor Ariza, sidelined since breaking his right foot Jan. 20 in practice, won't be returning any time soon. Ariza had a CT scan Friday that showed the broken bone hasn't healed yet, but is progressing. Ariza was given clearance to increase his treadmill workouts, and coach Phil Jackson said he'll be checked out again in two weeks.
Each of the previous three games between the teams were one-sided, with the Hornets winning 118-104 in Los Angeles on Nov. 6 behind Stojakovic's franchise-record 10 3-pointers; the Lakers winning 109-80 at New Orleans on Jan. 9, and the Hornets winning 108-98 at home on March 14.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

April 13th, 2008, 02:21 AM

Hornets lose again on Saturday, 2 more W's for L.A. and they're Western Conference Champs and will have home court advantage through the conference finals and possibly the NBA finals.

In other news the Suns have no shot of winning their conference or division and will most likely be without home court advantage any time during the playoffs.

**burton2019** · April 13th, 2008, 05:58 PM

Let's hold the talk until they at least make it to the Finals. With that said though, IMO, they are the team to beat in the West right now.

**Unchained** · April 13th, 2008, 07:09 PM

Most of us didn't expect the Lakers to win the division. This is all gravy IMO.

**Unchained** · April 14th, 2008, 01:40 AM

April 13, 2008
CBSSports.com wire reports

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers took sole possession of the Western Conference lead Sunday. One more victory and they're assured of keeping it.

MVP candidate Kobe Bryant had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Lakers routed the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs 106-85 for their seventh victory in eight games.

"It was a big game for us," Bryant said. "It was another step in the right direction. Going into the playoffs is all about momentum. Now, we just have to take it up another notch once the playoffs start."

The Lakers (56-25), who clinched their first Pacific Division championship in four years and at least the No. 3 seed in the West on Friday night, will win the conference title if they beat the visiting Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.

The Lakers went home uncertain of their status because the Houston Rockets had a chance to overtake them for the conference title by winning their final three games because they hold the tie-breaker should the teams finish in a tie. But the Rockets (54-26) lost to Denver 111-94 on Sunday night.

So if the Lakers beat the Kings, they're assured of finishing ahead of everybody in the West except New Orleans, which could only tie them. And Los Angeles would win a tie-breaker against the Hornets by virtue of a better conference record.

That would mean home-court advantage in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

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"It's still our responsibility to finish this the right way," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "And that was our message in the locker room after the game. Fortunately for us, we got some rest, got some guys who had a little bit of time to recover before Tuesday night."

Lamar Odom, the only Los Angeles starter to play in the final period, added 17 points and 14 rebounds before coming out for good with 4:26 remaining. Pau Gasol had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Derek Fisher also scored 14, Jordan Farmar added 11 points and Ronny Turiaf scored 10 for the Lakers, who outscored the Spurs 53-32 in the second half.

"They're the best in the West at this point," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Their rhythm is good, everybody knows their roles, they are playing confidently, defense looks very good. Heck of a team."

The Lakers outrebounded San Antonio 51-36, including 31-16 after halftime, and the Spurs shot just 11-of-37 after halftime after going 22-of-42 in the opening 24 minutes.

"What a half. We came out and played an exceptional second half," Jackson said. "We were on our heels at the end of the first half, (Tony) Parker was jamming the ball down our throat and we couldn't seem to find a way to stop him. I thought the second half we came out and made a good defensive stand and stopped penetration."

Bryant said he believes the Lakers have found their defensive identity.

"It's just like offense," he said. "You have to find out what your identity is. I think we have found that defensively. We are very aggressive. We have a tremendous amount of versatility -- wings and bigs who are fast and athletic and long. We can get after guys."

Parker had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but was held to two points after halftime. Tim Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Ime Udoka scored 14 for the Spurs (54-26), who lost for just the third time in 13 games.

The Spurs played without leading scorer Manu Ginobili, who missed his second game because of a strained left groin. Robert Horry hasn't played since March 21 because of a bruised left knee.

"Come playoff time, we'll have as good a chance as anybody to do well," Popovich said.

The game was tied at 53 at halftime. Fisher scored 10 points during a 17-6 run to start the third period, giving the Lakers a 70-59 lead, and the Spurs weren't closer than seven after that.

Bryant scored seven points in the last 2½ minutes of the quarter, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to make it 79-67 entering the final period. The Spurs missed their first seven field-goal attempts of the third quarter and wound up going 3-for-17 in the period.

The Lakers put the game away by outscoring the Spurs 19-5 to start the fourth quarter for a 98-72 lead.

"We haven't played well in about three, four, five games now," Duncan said. "We've just have got to find a way to make some shots."

Notes
The Spurs and Lakers have won six of the past eight NBA championships.