LAKERS 99, ROCKETS 95 (OT)
LOS ANGELES - Dwight Howard had a simple message for the Lakers after Chandler Parsons' 34-foot, line-drive 3-pointer at the regulation
cheap beats for sale buzzer added five more minutes to the final game of Los Angeles' already exhausting regular season.
Nothing has been easy for the Lakers all year long, Howard told his teammates. Why should the finale be any different?
With five more minutes of perseverance, the Lakers ended up with quite a reward. After getting up Wednesday morning with no guarantee their season wouldn't end that night, they surged into the seventh playoff spot in the West with a 99-95 overtime victory over the Houston Rockets.
Steve Blake scored 24 points and Pau Gasol added his seventh career triple-double for the Lakers (45-37), who only clinched a postseason berth about 10 minutes before tipoff. Despite Parsons' improbable tying basket, Los Angeles won again without Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, earning a first-round date with second-seeded San Antonio.
"I'm proud of the whole team and the way they stepped up at the end of the year," said Blake, who added seven assists and seven rebounds to cap his second impressive game in Bryant's absence. "We definitely expected more at the beginning of the year, but we're proud we're here. ... I couldn't believe it when a couple of days ago somebody said we even had a chance to be in the seventh spot, and now we're there."
Gasol had 17
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Jae C. Hong/AP
Pau Gasol nets a triple-double in an overtime win over the Rockets.
Howard had 16 points and 18 rebounds for the Lakers, and the All-Star center blocked James Harden's shot in the final seconds of overtime to finish up the Lakers' fifth straight win, their eighth in nine games.
"From where we were 20 or 30 games ago, a seven (seed) is
beat by dre for sale pretty good," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We shouldn't have been in that spot in the first place, but it's our fault."
Antawn Jamison added 16 points as the Lakers won their second straight without Bryant, who tore his Achilles tendon last Friday and watched another game from his home in Orange County. Nash hasn't played in eight games with a hamstring injury, but the Lakers finished the regular season with a gritty comeback win despite Chandler's heroics.
"We've
cheap beats studio fought through so much adversity already," Gasol said. "We knew we could handle a little more."
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