Odom Helps Lakers Clinch Playoff Spot

[April 05, 2008]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lamar Odom scored a season-high 31 points, Kobe Bryant added 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched a playoff berth Friday night with a 112-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

The Lakers have qualified for the playoffs in 55 of their 60 seasons as a franchise, winning 14 NBA championships and 27 division titles - hoping for a 28th with a magic number of five.

Phil Jackson has made the playoffs in all 17 seasons as an NBA head coach - eight with the Lakers and nine with the Chicago Bulls. Jackson, whose nine NBA titles are tied with fellow Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, also holds the all-time mark for postseason victories with 179.

Pau Gasol had 25 points and seven assists for the Lakers, and Odom grabbed 10 rebounds. It was the sixth time this season that they have had three players with 20 or more points - all victories.

Gasol and reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki both were playing their second game with their respective clubs since returning from ankle injuries. Gasol was 11-for-20 from the field and Nowitzki was 13-for-19.

Nowitzki led the Mavs with 27 points, Jason Terry scored 25 and Josh Howard added 23. Jason Kidd had 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. This was the Mavericks' 10th loss that was decided by four points or less.

The Lakers won three of the four meetings with Dallas, reversing last year's results when the Mavs won the season series for the first time since 1986-87 and only the second time overall.

The Mavericks led 106-103 with 1:29 to play, but the Lakers ended the game with a 9-2 spurt that included a three-point play by Gasol and two free throws each by Bryant and Sasha Vujacic in the final 18 seconds.

Nowitzki, who was a last-minute replacement for Bryant in this year's All-Star 3-point shooting contest due to Bryant's dislocated right pinkie, did not attempt a shot from behind the arc until he connected with 8:51 left in the game to give Dallas a 94-89 lead. He did not go to the free throw line the entire game.

Los Angeles trailed by as many as 14 points midway through the second quarter before narrowing the gap to 68-64 on Bryant's layup with 8:17 left in the third. But the Mavericks responded with a 12-5 spurt that restored their double-digit lead to 80-69 with 4:32 left in the period.

Notes:@ Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza, two Lakers still on the mend, won't play in any of the final six regular-season games. Bynum, sidelined for the last 40 games by an injured left knee, will accompany the team on its two-game road swing so that his progress can be monitored during practice. "The actual experience of playing together in a practice session is probably best for him so that we can work things out together," Jackson said. "Obviously, it takes a different energy level to do it in game competition because of the heightened performances when you get on the floor in an NBA game. But I think we'll be fine whether he plays in a regular-season game or he starts playing sometime during the playoffs." ... Ariza has missed 38 games with a broken right foot, and doctors have asked the coaching staff not to have him run yet. He'll have another diagnostic test to see if the fracture is completely gone before he is given clearance.

[Associated Press]

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