Lakers Win Pacific on Bryant’s Heroics
The final shot of the regular season was made by Kobe Bryant, and it certainly was a big one.
Bryant’s 3-pointer as time expired in the second overtime gave Los Angeles a 105-104 victory Wednesday night over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Lakers also won the Pacific Division and dropped the Sacramento Kings – who had been atop the league standings for most of the season – to fourth place in the Western Conference.
“I’m just totally shocked,” Kings coach Rick Adelman said after his team’s 97-91 loss to Golden State. “It’s a long season, all that stuff, but we had something to play for. I guess the second or fourth seed doesn’t matter to us.”
Perhaps Adelman should commiserate with his former assistant, Terry Porter, whose Milwaukee Bucks blew a fourth-quarter lead for the third straight game and lost 89-87 to Toronto.
The Bucks, who would have finished fourth in the East with a win, fell to sixth and will open the postseason on the road against the Detroit Pistons.
Miami, with a 96-84 victory over New Jersey, won the No. 4 seed and will open its best-of-seven series at home against fifth-seeded New Orleans.
The other matchups in the East will be Indiana-Boston and New York-New Jersey.
In the West, the matchups are Minnesota-Denver, Lakers-Houston, San Antonio-Memphis and Sacramento-Dallas.
The playoffs begin this weekend with four games Saturday and four more Sunday.
In Wednesday night’s other season finales, San Antonio downed Denver 93-67, Minnesota topped Memphis 107-90, Dallas edged Houston 92-89, Indiana beat Chicago 101-96, New Orleans defeated Washington 94-78, Cleveland topped New York 100-90, Boston edged Atlanta 137-132, Phoenix downed Denver 89-84, Seattle defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 118-87 and Orlando beat Philadelphia 95-89.
Lakers 105, Trail Blazers 104, 2OT
At Portland, the Lakers inbounded from midcourt on the final play, and Bryant popped free near the 3-point line. He caught the ball, shot it and swished it, racing downcourt in celebration.
“It was a great shot by the young fellow,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “He told us, `Set me a good pick and we’re going home with a win.’ That’s the sign of a great player: a great, confident shot.”
Bryant also hit an extremely difficult, off-balance 3-pointer at the end of regulation to force overtime. He did not speak to reporters after the game.
Warriors 97, Kings 91
At Oakland, the Kings lost for the eighth time in 12 games, and get a first-round meeting with the team that beat them in last season’s playoffs.
“I had no idea why we weren’t ready to play,” Adelman said in a somber locker room. “We’ve got three days to find our offense. When you’re paying no attention to detail and you’ve got no focus, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Raptors 89, Bucks 87
At Milwaukee, the crowd booed the Bucks after Jalen Rose’s wide-open 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left put the lottery-bound Raptors ahead 89-87.
“It’s disappointing. Now we have to regroup,” Porter said. “We’re in the playoffs. Anything can happen in the playoffs.”
Heat 96, Nets 84
At Miami, the Heat players watched the finish of the Raptors-Bucks game in their locker room and erupted in glee at the end. Opening at home is quite an achievement for a team that started 0-7 and was 11 games below .500 on March 2 before finishing 17-4.
Spurs 93, Nuggets 67
At San Antonio, the Spurs won their 11th straight by doubling their first-half point total with 32 points in the third quarter.
Timberwolves 101, Grizzlies 90
At Memphis, Kevin Garnett’s 26 points and Latrell Sprewell’s 20 helped the Wolves end with nine straight victories.
Mavericks 92, Rockets 89
At Houston, Marquis Daniels scored 21 points for Dallas. The Rockets were without Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley for the second straight game.
Pacers 101, Bulls 96
At Indianapolis, Jonathan Bender and Austin Croshere fueled an 11-2 fourth-quarter run as the Pacers finished with the league’s best record (61-21).
Hornets 94, Wizards 78
At Washington, the Hornets (41-41) avoided their first losing season since 1991-92.
Cavaliers 100, Knicks 90
At New York, LeBron James had 17 points in the final game of his rookie season. His last basket was a vicious dunk.
Celtics 137, Hawks 132
At Atlanta, the Celtics had their best offensive performance of the season and snapped a five-game slide.
Suns 89, Jazz 84
At Salt Lake City, the Suns avoided tying the 1987-88 team’s 28-54 finish for second-worst in club history.
SuperSonics 118, Clippers 87
At Los Angeles, Ray Allen had 26 points and 11 assists as Seattle completed its poorest season in 18 years with a win.
Magic 95, 76ers 89
At Orlando, a victory didn’t prevent the Magic (21-61) from winning their fewest games since 1991-92.