April 17th: Kobe's 43 beats Suns, puts Lakers in playoffs. Kobe's father Joe Bryant to coach WNBA Sparks

[Phil]

Kobe's 43 beats Suns, puts Lakers in playoffs

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Helped by the absence of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant put on his usual one-man offensive show and the Los Angeles Lakers easily clinched a playoff berth.

Bryant made a late-season case for league MVP honors, scoring 43 points in a 109-89 rout of the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

"It doesn't really seem like we're overly jumping for joy, but it is a great accomplishment for us," he said. "We came from last season when we didn't make it. This season nobody expected us to make it and here we are."

The Lakers are back in the postseason for the first time since losing the 2004 NBA Finals to Detroit. Their seeding has yet to be decided, but they could face Phoenix in the first round.

"It is good to be back in the playoffs again. That's an important step for this club because of the number of young players we have that haven't been in the playoffs," said coach Phil Jackson, who was let go after losing the 2004 championship.

[Phil]

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[Phil]

It's a Qualified Success Story
Lakers clinch a playoff spot some didn't think they'd get, and finally beat Suns in the bargain, 109-89. Bryant scores 43; Nash doesn't play.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 17, 2006

In one smooth, easy sweep, the Lakers deconstructed their failures of last season and some carry-over issues from this one, securing a playoff spot Sunday by finally beating the Phoenix Suns.

Eighty-one games into the season, they proved they belonged among the top eight in the Western Conference, managing to overcome numerous late-game meltdowns, a rash of injuries and, lastly, the Suns, whom they hadn't beaten in seven tries since Shaquille O'Neal left town.

Sun guard Steve Nash didn't play, but another MVP candidate did, Kobe Bryant scoring 43 points in the Lakers' 109-89 victory at Staples Center.

There was a communal exhale from Laker followers — their team hadn't missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since 1975 and 1976 — yet also a sigh of satisfaction, the Lakers (44-37) winning for the 10th time in their last 13 games and continuing to play their best ball of the season.

On top of it, they beat the team they will probably play in the first round of the playoffs. If Sacramento loses Tuesday to Seattle or the Lakers win Wednesday against New Orleans, the Lakers, as the seventh-seeded team, would begin a best-of-seven series Saturday or Sunday in Phoenix. If the Lakers finish eighth, they would play either San Antonio or Dallas.

[Phil]

Walton Is Starting to Get Comfortable
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 17, 2006

Laker Coach Phil Jackson keeps saying it's only temporary, even experimental, but Luke Walton keeps popping up in the starting lineup.

The Laker forward has taken Brian Cook's spot and run with it, averaging 8.3 points, six rebounds and 4.8 assists in four consecutive games as a starter.

The season had been a grind for Walton, who started off with a severe hamstring pull in training camp and lost his confidence near midseason, bottoming out with a scoreless, airball-filled effort against Sacramento in January.

"It was hard," Walton said. "I knew that it mainly had to do with confidence. I was working on my shot every day and I was feeling good, but it just wasn't going for me. Now I'm relaxed and having fun, and it seems to be back for me."

Walton has rallied, helping push the Lakers toward a playoff-clinching victory Sunday with eight points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a 109-89 victory over Phoenix.

"His shooting went to the outhouse for a while, so he had to redeem it," Jackson said. "But he really worked on it and came back and has gained confidence in that shot, and it has shown in his productivity."

[Phil]

Looking at Results, Nash Is the Pick
April 17, 2006

This falls under the category of unintended consequences. In the process of clinching a playoff berth for themselves, the Lakers strengthened the case for Steve Nash as the league's most valuable player.

With Nash sitting on the Phoenix Suns' bench wearing a jeans-and-sports-coat combo, the Suns were a mess. The Lakers made them look like a lottery-bound squad instead of the Pacific Division champions. Phoenix played without a sense of purpose, had no team identity. It was like watching the "Sopranos" crew while Tony was laid up in the hospital.

Nash's impact is so big that his absence even hurt Kobe Bryant's MVP candidacy. Since the Steve-less Suns couldn't keep the game close, Bryant (43 points) sat out the final six minutes and didn't get the chance to post another, potentially influential, 50-point performance. Instead of hearing chants of "M-V-P" in the waning moments, any voting media member who tuned in heard "We want tacos."

Because the Lakers held the Suns below 90 points in the 109-89 victory, public address announcer Lawrence Tanter told the fans they'd receive two free tacos at a fast-food restaurant.

That took priority over the fact the Lakers had just secured a spot in the playoffs. Maybe it's because the opening round feels like it will be a quick drive-through instead of the first course of the lavish postseason meals we used to feast on here. There wasn't too much exuberance in the Laker locker room. This is a franchise that doesn't celebrate the ordinary.

"It's a step in the right direction," Bryant said.

[Phil]

Lakers begin Suns study
By Ross Siler Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - If there was one thing Lakers coach Phil Jackson could take away from Sunday's game with Phoenix, it was that his longtime assistant Tex Winter is going to have to get some more paper for the playoffs.

"They're a team that plays at such a high rate of possessions that Tex ran out of paper in the first quarter," Jackson said of the Suns. "He was writing on the back of his standard sheet to try and keep track of how many shots were going up and how many possessions there were."

The Lakers led 35-22 after the first quarter and had taken 29 shots. Eight of their 15 baskets came off layups or dunks. But Jackson did not want to see his team get caught up with playing at the same speed as the Suns.

"That's a higher pace, higher fatigue rate, particularly when you play against this team," Jackson said. "So it's important for us to understand how to do that."

[Phil]

Lakers' win feels hollow
By Ross Siler Staff Writer


The Lakers played the Phoenix Suns at Staples on Sunday, winning the game and clinching a playoff spot. Here the Lakers' Kobe Bryant does his stuff against the Suns. (David Sprague/Staff Photo)
• Photo Gallery: 04/16: Lakers vs. Suns

LOS ANGELES - At the end of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant's season of reconciliation and redemption came a playoff berth Sunday afternoon, clinched with a 109-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns - some of them, at least - at Staples Center.

So why did Jackson sound like the home fans, who stood and cheered as the final horn sounded and everyone left with coupons for free tacos, deserved some kind of apology?

With Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni deciding to rest Steve Nash and Raja Bell, the Lakers victory had all the feel of an October exhibition game, as hollow as a chocolate bunny for those who came out on Easter to watch.

The Lakers led 16-1 after 3 1/2 minutes and took care of business by beating the Suns for the first time in eight games since the Shaquille O'Neal trade. Yet Bryant was asked afterward if he felt cheated with the game as a competitor.

"We weren't playing for that," Bryant said. "We were playing to secure a playoff berth."

[Phil]

Best in L.A. may be best that fans can hope for

The Clippers have been L.A.'s best basketball team all season. The Lakers are L.A.'s best basketball team right now.

So who's the champion of L.A. basketball?

I mean, the NBA playoffs are almost upon us, and it would almost feel like old times around here if we had some kind of championship to talk about.

Phil Jackson chuckled at the question Sunday morning, before the Lakers played the Phoenix Suns at Staples Center.

"I think it all depends on which team does the best in the playoffs," the Lakers coach said. "It's all about the playoffs. The second season is where you measure (yourself)."

Mike Dunleavy practically growled at the question Sunday evening, before the Clippers played the Seattle SuperSonics in the late half of the Easter doubleheader.

"Who cares?" the Clippers coach said with a sharp shrug. "It's not an issue. It's getting to the playoffs, and moving forward, that's what it's all about."

Uh, so they agree?

[Phil]

Caught in a clinch move
Lakers back in playoffs with empty win over punch-less Suns
Ross Siler, Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - At the end of Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant's season of reconciliation and redemption came a playoff berth Sunday afternoon, clinched with a 109-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns - some of them, at least - at Staples Center.

So why did Jackson sound like the home fans, who stood and cheered as the final horn sounded and everyone left with coupons for free tacos, deserved some kind of apology?

With Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni deciding to rest Steve Nash and Raja Bell, the Lakers' victory had all the feel of an October exhibition game, as hollow as a chocolate bunny for those who came out on Easter Sunday to watch.

The Lakers led 16-1 after 3 1/2 minutes and took care of business by beating the Suns for the first time in eight games since the Shaquille O'Neal trade. Yet Bryant was asked afterward if he felt cheated with the game as a competitor.

"We weren't playing for that," Bryant said. "We were playing to secure a playoff berth."

[Phil]

Lakers confident in their game plan

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 17, 2006 12:00 AM

LOS ANGELES - One day, Lakers coach Phil Jackson is the first coach to tout Phoenix's interior defense. The next, Lakers center Kwame Brown is talking about how his team watched the Clippers beat the Suns by pounding them inside.

Ah, perspective. The Lakers claim they haven't had much of that in trying to solve Phoenix. In each of the Suns' previous three wins, the Lakers had played on the previous night. The playoffs would offer more focus and preparation.

The Suns did not give them much to build on in a 109-89 loss Sunday, putting Steve Nash and Raja Bell in suits.
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"There are different degrees (of injuries)," Jackson said. "If they can extend these guys' ability to play in the playoffs, they certainly should.

"I don't think I ever rested any of our players. I still think we always played players, even if it was 20 minutes or 15 minutes or whatever."

[Phil]

Four more teams reach postseason
The Associated Press

The NBA playoff picture got a little clearer Sunday as the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings all clinched playoff spots.

■ Kobe Bryant put on his usual one-man offensive show, scoring 43 points in the Lakers’ 109-89 rout of the Phoenix Suns in Los Angeles.

“It doesn’t really seem like we’re overly jumping for joy, but it is a great accomplishment for us,” Bryant said. “We came from last season when we didn’t make it. This season nobody expected us to make it, and here we are.”

The Lakers are back in the postseason for the first time since losing the 2004 NBA finals to Detroit. Their seeding has yet to be decided, but they could face Phoenix in the first round.

[Phil]

Kobe shows the way

By Beth Harris, The Associated Press
April 17, 2006

LOS ANGELES — Helped by the absence of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant put on his usual one-man offensive show and the Los Angeles Lakers easily clinched a playoff berth.

Bryant made a late-season case for league MVP honors, scoring 43 points in a 109-89 rout of the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

"It doesn't really seem like we're overly jumping for joy, but it is a great accomplishment for us," he said. "We came from last season when we didn't make it. This season nobody expected us to make it and here we are."

The Lakers are back in the postseason for the first time since losing the 2004 NBA Finals to Detroit. If Sacramento beats Seattle on Tuesday, the Lakers will need to beat New Orleans in their regular-season finale on Wednesday to earn the seventh seed. If they earn the seventh seed they will open the playoffs at Phoenix. The eighth seed plays San Antonio.

"It is good to be back in the playoffs again. That's an important step for this club because of the number of young players we have that haven't been in the playoffs," said coach Phil Jackson, who was let go after losing the 2004 championship.

[Phil]

So Much for a Preview of the Postseason
So Much for a Preview of the Postseason

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, April 16, 2006

GREGG PATTON

LOS ANGELES -

Maybe the Lakers will beat Phoenix if they play in the postseason.

Maybe they won't.

But anyone looking for early clues in Sunday's game at Staples Center -- billed as a likely first-round matchup -- would have had just as much luck searching at an Easter egg hunt.

The Suns weren't giving anything away, except the game.

Starting guards Raja Bell and Steve Nash, the perpetual motion machine who makes Phoenix go, were in street clothes on the bench. The best look anyone in the building got of Nash was a close-up TV shot of him projected on the big screen above the court. The crowd booed, Nash grinned and waved, and the Lakers ran to an easy 109-89 victory.

So much for a playoff preview.

So much for a showdown between most valuable player candidates Nash and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, who could have cared less that the Suns didn't show their A game and rung up 43 points on the visitors.

And so much for a competitive basketball game.

[Phil]

Bryant, Lakers bask in sitting Suns

Phoenix rests Nash, Bell. Applying Coach Phil Jackson's lessons diligently, the Lakers routed the less-interested Suns to clinch a playoff berth and prime themselves for a postseason matchup with Phoenix.

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register


The Lakers were aggressive in going to the basket; 20 of Kobe Bryant’s 43 points came on free throws.

ARMANDO BROWN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Whether this season, as Kobe Bryant believes, is the best coaching performance of Phil Jackson's career, one official stamp of approval came Sunday.

Jackson's streak of qualifying for the postseason every season he has coached in the NBA - a hardly imposing statistic that probably was on page 10 of his nine-championship résumé a couple of years ago - was extended with the Lakers' 109-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns at Staples Center.

Officially playoff-bound, the Lakers are even bearing a resemblance to Jackson's other dominant stretch-run teams during this spell of 10 victories in 13 games to go a season-high seven games above .500.

"It's good to be back in the playoffs again," Jackson said. "It's an important step for this club."

[Phil]

Back to promised land

Lakers 109, Suns 89: The Lakers clinch a playoff berth against short-handed Phoenix.

11:48 PM PDT on Sunday, April 16, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

LOS ANGELES - On this journey all season, the Lakers finally arrived at their destination.
AP photo
Kobe Bryant scores 43 points against Brian Grant and Phoenix, which sat Steve Nash and Raja Bell.

The Lakers will be in the playoffs after clinching a spot with a 109-89 victory over the short-handed Phoenix Suns on Sunday at Staples Center.

"I know this city is used to championships, and I am as well," said Kobe Bryant, who scored 43 points. "But it's one step at a time, and this is a step in that direction."

The Lakers missed the playoffs last year for the first time since the 1993-94 season, finishing 34-48 and entering the lottery for just the second time in franchise history.

But the Lakers (44-37) are back in the postseason with room to spare, currently holding the seventh seed by a game over Sacramento with one game left for both teams. If the Lakers win Wednesday's regular-season finale with New Orleans, or the Kings lose to Seattle, they would play at Phoenix in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. D_lakers_17.8ce0a1c.html][b][size=18]

[Phil]

It's ugly without Nash
Guard's absence again clarifies his value

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 17, 2006 12:00 AM

LOS ANGELES - It has been proved. The Suns are going nowhere without Steve Nash on the floor. Yeah, and night follows day.

Besides that revelation, there was not much to be gleaned from what happened Sunday. The Suns and the Lakers all but showed they want to face each other in the first round of the playoffs from start to finish - a 16-1 Lakers lead to a 109-89 Lakers victory.

Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni held out his starting backcourt, Nash and Raja Bell, for a second straight loss to help improve Nash's nerve-related hamstring pain and thigh contusion and Bell's strained quadriceps. That cleared the way for Kobe Bryant to do what he usually does against the Suns - score big. This time, his 43 points came with a twist in the form of the Lakers' first win against the Suns in two seasons.
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"We were dead and lifeless," D'Antoni said. "It looked like Easter Sunday. We just didn't quite have it in the first half. In the second half, I thought we played hard. We just didn't have enough on the floor."

Or, in Brian Grant's words: "The first half was some bullcrap. We didn't have any energy. In the second half, we at least competed."

[Phil]

Hoping For Breakthrough

Broderick Turner

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, April 16, 2006

LOS ANGELES - The Suns rested starting guards Steve Nash and Raja Bell Sunday, partly to let them nurse thigh injuries and partly because Phoenix has secured the Pacific Division crown and its No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
AP photo
Steve Nash watches his Suns lose to the Lakers, 109-89. Nash is nursing a right thigh contusion and left hamstring injury.

The Lakers were hoping to get a better gauge of how they might fare against the Suns in the playoffs, but Coach Phil Jackson supported Phoenix's decision.

"With Nash playing as hard as he does, it's probably best to sit him," Jackson said.

The Lakers, who would play the Suns in the first round if the playoffs started today, had lost all three games against Phoenix before winning Sunday.

Jackson recalled a somewhat similar scenario from when he was an assistant coach with Chicago in 1989. The Cavaliers sat three starters in the regular-season finale against the Bulls and still won.

The Bulls were 0-6 against the Cavaliers that season and had to face Cleveland in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Bulls, however, won that best-of-five series on an incredible, last-second shot by Michael Jordan.

Jackson is hoping for a similar breakthrough.

"We haven't felt like we've had a legitimate game against them this season, one where we can really plan out a game for them," Jackson said. "This was one of the games where we thought we'd have a little time to explore."

[Phil]

Kobe's father Joe Bryant to coach in WNBA
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Joe Bryant, father of Lakers star Kobe Bryant, was hired as head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks on Monday.

The elder Bryant joined the Sparks as an assistant coach under Henry Bibby last season. However, Bryant took over for the last five games after Bibby departed by mutual agreement with management.

Los Angeles finished the season 4-1 under Bryant, with late-season surge helping the Sparks earn a playoff berth before they were swept in the first round by eventual champion Sacramento.

"I guess you can say it's my first official tenure with the Sparks as head coach, so this year is going to be a great opportunity," Bryant said in a statement. "I'm very excited and a championship is on our mind."

[Phil]

L.A. confidential
Inside look at Easter doubleheader at Staples Center
Posted: Monday April 17, 2006 9:46PM; Updated: Monday April 17, 2006

SI.com's Arash Markazi was in Los Angeles on Sunday and pulled an NBA doubleheader at the Staples Center, catching the Lakers-Suns in the afternoon and the Clippers-Sonics in the evening.
Lakers-Suns

• It's 10:30 a.m., two hours before tip-off, but on any normal NBA game day we'd be about nine hours away from the opening tip, so many of the players were in an odd state of mind as they made an all-too-early drive to the arena, instead of catching up on some much-needed sleep this Sunday morning. "I got here around 10 a.m.," said Lakers point guard Smush Parker. "It was strange. We don't usually practice this early. I was in bed by 9:30 last night just so I'd get up on time."