Lakers top seed in West
Pau Gasol had 22 points, leading MVP candidate Kobe Bryant added 20, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings 124-101 Tuesday night in Los Angeles to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
The Lakers, who won eight of their last nine games, begin the playoffs this weekend – most likely Sunday – against Denver or Dallas. It will be the Nuggets unless they beat Memphis and Dallas loses to New Orleans tonight. If the Hornets win, they’ll have the same record as the Lakers, but Los Angeles wins the tiebreaker by virtue of a better conference record.
Magic 121, Hawks 105: At Atlanta, Maurice Evans scored 27 points and six of his Orlando teammates also scored in double figures, leading the Magic to a victory over the Hawks.
Pistons 115, Timberwolves 103: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Jarvis Hayes scored 20 points and Richard Hamilton added 18 as Detroit clinched the NBA’s second-best record by beating Minnesota.
With the victory, Detroit will have home-court advantage over any Western Conference opponent if it makes the NBA Finals.
Nets 112, Bobcats 108 (OT): At East Rutherford, N.J., Richard Jefferson scored 28 points and hit a go-ahead jumper as New Jersey Nets rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit to beat Charlotte.
Hornets 114, Clippers 92: At New Orleans, David West scored 32 points and Chris Paul had 12 during a decisive run in the third quarter as the Hornets clinched the Southwest Division by beating Los Angeles.
The Hornets will have at least the No. 2 seed in the playoffs in the rugged Western Conference.
Trail Blazers 113, Grizzlies 91: At Portland, James Jones hit six 3-pointers and had 20 points to lead the Trail Blazers to a victory over Memphis and give them a shot at a winning record.
Brandon Roy had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Portland, one game over .500 with one game left this season, tonight at Phoenix. The Blazers have not finished with a winning record since the 2002-03 season.
Anthony apologizes
NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony has apologized for his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Denver.
The Denver Nuggets forward spoke for about 2 minutes at the Pepsi Center, reading from a prepared statement and also talking off-the-cuff. Teammate Allen Iverson stood off to the side as Anthony spoke.