European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 17 2007 stars and stripes Page 37 Ryant nets 50 lakers Clinch playoff spot by Ken Peters the associated press los Angeles Kobe Bryant had the touch so he kept taking shots Bryant finished with 50 Points on 18for25 shooting sunday night to carry the lakers to a 10998 Victory Over Seattle that clinched a playoff spot for los Ange Les we feel much better we needed this Type of win Bryant said after the lakers won for just the third time in 11 games Bryant said that when the playoffs begin he May score a lot of Points and he May not if the jumper is on Well ride it out he said if if s not Well have to find another Way to win our defensive continuity is going to be our biggest Challenge Phil Jackson whose teams have never missed the playoffs in his 17 years As an Aba coach said the lakers still have a lot of work to do i think theres a sigh of Relief but i do think they know that they have to improve their play too he said Ive been telling them that if youre going to play and give away games at the end it Doest matter if you go into the playoffs youre just going to be fodder for the teams that you have to play against the lakers who have one regular sea son game remaining at Sacramento on wednesday night will finish seventh or eighth in the Western conference and face either Dallas or Phoenix in the first round Bryant scored 50 or More for the 10th time this season the third highest total in Aba history behind Wilt chamberlains 45 times with 50 or More in 196162 and chamberlains 30 times the following sea son Bryant has reached the 50point plateau 21 times in Liis career Seattle coach Bob Hill smiled and said the sonics stressed defending Bryant for the entire game and forced him to score 50 Points he was Brilliant he was just deter mined Hes special Hill said the lakers in the habit lately of blowing late leads lost All but one Point of their once substantial margin against the sonics Seattle behind by 19 Points in the first half narrowed the margin to 8786 mid Way through the final Quarter but Bryant then scored eight Points As los Angeles opened a 9989 Lead with three minutes remaining the Only other lakers to finish in double figures were Lamar Odom with 14 Points and Maurice Evans with 10 Rashard Lewis scored 24 for Seattle Chris Wilcox had 20 and Mike Wilks had a career High 22 the los Angeles clippers 105100 loss to Sacramento on sunday afternoon at Sta Ples Center meant the lakers had Only to win one of their remaining two games to make the postseason the clippers and Golden state warriors Are still contending for the final Western conference playoff berth the lakers have the tiebreaker Over both of those teams magic secure easts final postseason bid the associated press Orlando Fla the Orlan do magic Haven dealt with the pressure of the postseason in four years and it showed in sundays 8886 Victory Over Boston the magic clinched the final playoff spot in the Eastern Confer ence with Indiana 111107 loss to new Jersey and their Victory Over Boston but it was far from a Confidence building Victory Orlando led 8568 with left but turned the Ball Over six times and didst have a Field goal the rest of the game Orlandos Only Points were two free throws from Grant Hill and one from Dwight Howard i flunk we kind of started thinking about the playoffs a Little too Early said Howard who missed three of four free throw at tempts in the last 13 seconds we went through a Long stretch where we  catch the Ball make a Basket or do anything Boston lost its seventh straight game and has the worst record in the Eastern conference Mavericks 91 spurs 86 los ing a tense physical emotional game to their top rival and being forced to Settle for the third seed in the Western conference was bad enough for Tim Duncan and the visiting spurs even worse Duncan is con Vinced official Joey Crawford is out to get him Crawford hit Duncan with two technical fouls just apart late in me third Quarter of san Anto Nios loss to Dallas the second came while he was laughing on the Bench and meant an automatic ejection just the second of his nine year career warriors 121 Timber wolves 108 Jason Richardson had 32 Points and 12 rebounds and Surg ing Host Golden state took sole Possession of eighth place in the Western conference standings with a Victory the warriors 4040 did it with one Eye on the out town scoreboard where they watched the clippers 3941 fall out of their eight place tie with Golden state in a 105100 loss to Sacra mento Kings 105 clippers 100 re serve swing Man Francisco Gar Cia scored 16 Points including a pair of three pointers Down the stretch and Ron Artest had a Ca ree High 10 assists to Lead visit ing Sacramento Mike Bibby one of six Sacra mento players in double digits scored 13 of his 15 Points in the first half As the Kings dealt a severe blow to the clippers playoff Hopes nets 111 pacers 107 Vince Carter scored 35 Points to help vis iting new Jersey eliminate Indi Ana from the Eastern conference playoff picture Bastjan Nachbar scored 25 Points and shot 6for6 from three Point Range and Jason Kidd had 12 Points 10 assists and eight rebounds for the nets raptors 107 kicks 105 Chris Bosh scored 23 Points and Host Toronto earned Home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a Victory Over new York Anthony Parker and Joey Gra Ham each added 19 Points for the raptors who won their sea so High sixth straight game and will be the third seed in the East Ern conference 76ers 102 pistons 91 Willie Green scored 26 Points to Lead vis iting Philadelphia Tayshaun Prince led the Pis tons with 15 Points but the next five players in Detroit usual rotation combined for Only 24 Points bulls 101 wizards 68 visit ing Chicago stifling defense limited Washington to a season Low Point total Ben Gordon scored 30 Points Chicago held Washington to 34 percent shooting and the bulls beat the depleted wizards for their third consecutive Victory Dallas Phoenix san Antonio Utah Houston Denver la lakers Golden 66 61 58 49 51 43 41 14 19 22 31 29 37 40 825 763 725 613 638 538 506 5 8 17 15 23 25 i 26 la clippers new Orleans Sacramento Minnesota Portland Seattle 37 3332 32 31 43 47 48 48 50 463 413 400 400 383 29 33 34 34 35 46 Aba scoreboard Eastern conference Detroit Chicago a Toronto Miami Cleveland Washington new Jersey Orlando w i pet 51 29 638 49 32 605 47 33 588 44 36 550 48 32 600 40 40 500 39 41 488 38 42 475 go 4 7 3 11 12 13 Indiana Philadelphia Charlotte new York Atlanta Milwaukee Boston 35 45 438 3446 425 33 48 407 32 48 400 29 51 363 27 53 338 23 57 288 16 17 19 22 24 28 Western conference clinched playoff spot clinched division cinched conference sundays games Chicago 101 Washington 68 new Jersey 111 Indiana 107 Sacramento 105 la clippers 100 Dallas 91 san Antonio 86 Golden state 121 Minnesota 108 Orlando 88 Boston 86 Toronto 107 new York 105 Philadelphia 102 Detroit 91 la lakers 109 Seattle 98 mondays games Boston at Miami new Jersey at new York Atlanta at Milwaukee san Antonio at Memphis Phoenix at Houston Minnesota at Denver Portland at Utah new Orleans at Sacramento tuesdays games Indiana at Atlanta Orlando at Washington Cleveland at Philadelphia Toronto at Detroit la clippers at Phoenix Dallas at Golden state wednesdays games Philadelphia at Toronto new York at Charlotte Miami at Orlando Milwaukee at Cleveland Detroit at Boston Chicago at new Jersey Washington at Indiana Denver at san Antonio Memphis at Minnesota Houston at Utah la lakers at Sacramento Golden state at Portland Dallas at Seattle new Orleans at la clippers end regular season sunday bulls 101 wizards 68 Chicago Deng 5116816 brown14 00 2 Wallace 4713 f Gordon 1120 22 30 Hin Rich 25 22 Tthomas 16 34 5 Duhon 25 00 4 Nocom 49 00 9 Sefo Losha 15 00 2 Allen 2422 6 Sweetney 22 00 4 a Hrypa 33 00 6 totals 38811621101 Washington Hayes 414 23 11 Jami son 312 00 8 Ethomas 59 13 11 Steven son 415 3413 Taylor 5703 10 Blatche 05 121 Mason 26 00 5 Ruffin 0100 0 Songhai la 47 00 8 Hall 02 00 0 Haywood 62 14 1 totals 2780 819 68 Chicago 28 21 28 24101 Washington 14 13 23 1868 three Point 916 Gordon 69 Hinrich 24 Nocini 12 Duhon Washington 620 Jamison 24 Stevenson 27 Mason 13 Hayes 14 Blatche fouled 59 Tthomas Wallace Washington 53 Ethomas assists Chicago 28 Hinrich Washington 15 Taylor total foul Chicago 21 Washington 23 techno defensive three second a20173 nets 111 pacers 107 new Jersey Jefferson 7113418 Moore 16 22 4 Collins 01 00 0 Carter 1225 810 35 Kidd 49 22 12 Boone 34 02 6 Nachbar 79 55 25 Wright 0100 0 mwilliams59 00 11 Adams 00 00 0 Robinson 0100 0 to tals 3976 2025 111 Indiana Granger 514 5617 Oneal 715 67 20 Foster 02 00 0 Dunleavy 69 35 15 Tinsley 410 0010 Swilliams 57 0012 Mur Phy 612 22 17 Armstrong 58 00 13 Diogu 17 12 3 totals 3984 1722 107 new Jersey 28262631111 Indiana 22 34 24 27107 three Point Jersey 1323 Nachbar 66 Carter 37 Kidd 26 Jefferson 12 Williams Indiana 1220 Murphy 33 Armstrong 35 Swilliams 22 Tinsley 23 Granger 26 Dunleavy fouled out Jersey 47 Kidd indiana45 Foster Jersey 25 Kidd Indiana 26 total jersey23 Indiana 23 techno Jersey coach Frank Kings 105 clippers 100 Sacramento Artest 515 44 15 Abdurrahim 36 22 8 Miller 57 2212 mar tin 513 2213 Bibby 69 0015 Jwilliams 37 13 7 Garcia 612 00 16 Salmons 38 78 13 Douby 12 34 6 totals 3779 2125 105 a clippers Maggette 717 79 21 Brand 9141112 29 Kaman 38 00 6 Mobley 39 44 11 Hart 35 00 6 Tthomas 513 01 13 Ross 36 78 14 Cassell 04 00 0 single ton 00 00 0 totals 3376 2934100 Sacramento 34 26 21 24105 la clippers 23 18 24 35100 three Point 1022 Gar Cia 46 Bibby 35 Douby 11 Martin 14 Art est 15 Salmons la clippers 518 Tthomas 39 Ross 11 Mobley 15 Maggette fouled mento 43 Douby Jwilliams la clippers 51 Brand 28 Art est la clippers 22 Brand total foul Sacramento 24 la clippers 22 tech defensive three second a19060 Mavericks 91 spurs 86 san Antonio Bowen 25 00 s Duncan 612 45 16 Eison 25 00 4 Finley 37 22 8 Parker 92155 23 Horry 12 00 2 Ginobile 613 44 16 Barry 16 12 4 Oberto 33 00 6 Vaughn 14 00 2 totals 34781618 86 Dallas Howard 512 56 15 Nowitzki 1021 00 21 Diop 03 56 5 George 12 00 3 Terry 31123 8 de Harris 713 68 21 stack House 611 24 14 croshere 00 00 0 Buck Ner 24 00 4 totals 3477 2027 91 san Antonio 28 27 21 1086 Dallas 22 30 20 1991 three Point goals san Antonio 213 Bowen 13 Barry 15 Finley 01 Ginobile 02 Parker 311 Nowitzki 11 George 11 de Harris 12 Howard 02 Terry 02 Stackhouse fouled gut none re bound Ssan Antonio 47 Duncan Elson Dahs 49 Diop assists san Antonio 15 Duncan Dallas 16 Flerry total fouls san Antonio 21 Dallas 22 techno Cal Bowen Duncan cana20444 warriors 121  108 Hassell 12 00 2 Smith 47 67 14 Reed 3834 s Davis 1429 910 42 James 410 34 12 Madsen 00 00 0 Foye 515 2213 Mccants 14 22 4 Blount 36 01 6 Wright 13 35 s totals 3684 2834108 Golden state Richardson 1117 67 32 Jackson 39 00 8 Harrington 713 3318 Ellis 474512 Davis 613 4417 Barnes 17 00 2 Pietrus 44 00 11 Biedrina 14 00 2 Azu Buike 49 2411 Jacikevicius 15 00 2 Powell 12 22 4 Foyle 02 22 2 totals 4392 2328 121 Minnesota 22 28 16 42108 go Wen state 38303815121 three Point goal Minnesota 820 Ldavis 59 James 12 Wright 13 Foye 14 Mccants Golden state 1234 Richard son 46 Pietrus 33 Jackson 25 Davis 13 Azubuike 13 Harrington 14 Jacikevicius 04 Barnes fouled outdone rebound Minnesota 53 Smith Golden state 55 Richardson 20 Davis Golden state 29 Davis Rich Ardson total 19 Golden state 24 state defensive three second 2 flagrant a18223 magic 88 celtics 86 Boston Jefferson 1420 02 28 Gomes 310 02 6 Perkins 34 00 6 West 717 45 19 Rondo 59 67 16 Green 17 33 5 Powe 14 11 3 Telfair 03 00 0 Ray 14 00 3 totals 35781420 86 Orlando Turkoglu 615 66 20 Battie 05 00 0 Howard 38 412 10 Hill 510 67 16 Nelson 49 77 16 Dooling 35 45 12 Milicic 34 02 6 Ariza 23 014 Arroyo 24 00 4 totals 2863 2740 88 Boston 24 16 19 2786 Orlando 23 25 30 1088 three Point 211 Ray 12 West 13 Telfair 01 Gomes 02 Green Orlando 511 Dooling 22 Turkoglu 27 Nel son fouled ton 42 Perkins Orlando 55 Howard 15 West Rondo Orlando 13 Nelson total 30 Orlan do 21 defensive three second Orlando defensive three second a17451 raptors 107 kicks 105 new York Frye 15 4 Jeffries 00 00 0 Curry 1117 810 30 Collins 4112212 fran Cis 814 911 28 Rose 712 33 18 James 12 00 2 Robinson 310 23 11 totals 35712631 105 Toronto Graham 81133 19 Bosh 614 1112 23 Nesterovich 23 00 4 Parker 612 45 19 Ford 46 00 8 Calderon 817 22 18 Dixon 28 00 4 Humphries 56 24 12 Jack son 02 00 0 totals 4179 2226107 new York 27321927105 Toronto 30 20 27 30107 three Point York 917 Robin son 34 Francis 35 Collins 24 Rose 13 Frye i Oronto 314 Parker 38 Jackson of Dixon 02 Calderon fouled out York 48 Curry Francis Collins Toronto 35 Bosh As Sis Snew York 20 Collins Toronto 25 Bosh total York 23 Toronto 26 York defensive three second Curry Toronto coach Mitchell Bosh flagrant 76ers 102 pistons 91 Philadelphia Jones 613 13 13 shunt or 810 00 16 Dalembert 34 22 8 Green 1224 22 26 Miller 411 44 12 Smith 614 1113 Williams 212 12 6 Amundson 47 00 8 totals 4595 1114102 Detroit Prince 510 44 15 Wallace 13 00 3 Webber 2612 5 Hamilton 35118 Bil Lups 25 00 6 Johnson 312 67 12 Murray 310 12 7 Maxiell 47 24 10 Delfino 510 00 11 Mcdyess 1100 2 lhunter58 0012 to tals 3477 1520 91 Philadelphia 27 23 27 25102 Detroit 28 22 20 2191 three Point goal Philadelphia 19 will iams 12 Jones 01 Miller 01 Green de troit 822 Billups 25 lhunter25 Hamilton 11 Wallace 11 Delfino 12 Prince 15 Johnson 01 Murray fouled outdone 59 Amundson Detroit 42 Johnson assist Philadel phia 25 Miller Detroit 23 Murray total 16 Detroit 14 techno defensive three second a22076 lakers 109 supersonics 98 Seattle Wilcox 715 68 20 Ras Lewis 818 45 24 Collison 13 00 2 Wilkins 61011 17 Wilks 1014 11 22 Gela Bale 29 34 7 Petro 13 22 4 Sene 12 00 2 Livingston 00 00 0 totals 3674172198 a lakers Walton 210 00 4 Odom 59 36 14 Bro Van 13 15 3 Bryant 1825 1113 50 Farmar 3612 9 Turiaf 36 22 8 Cook 00 00 0 Evans 510 00 10 Parker 28 02 4 Vujacic 23 00 5 Radmanovic 0100 0 Bynum 1100 2 totals 4280 1830 109 Seattle 15 31 28 2498 a lakers 29 26 26 28109 three Point goal Seattle 918 Wilkins 44 Ras Lewis 410 Wilks 12 Wilcox 01 be labile la lakers 717 Bryant 36 far mar 23 Odom 11 Vujacic 12 Evans 02 Walton fouled Outra Lewis re bound Seattle 47 Wilcox la lakers 45 Bryant assist Seattle 12 Wilks la lakers 24 Odom total foul Seattle 25 la lakers 20 lakers defensive three second Bryant a18997