The Los Angeles Lakers began the season in chaos 5 1/2 months ago. They finished it as the Western Conference champion. Pau Gasol had 22 points, leading MVP candidate Kobe Bryant added 20, and the Lakers beat the short-handed Sacramento Kings 124-101 Tuesday night to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West and home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs. The Lakers (57-25), 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 on Wednesday night. 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. Gasol shot 9-of-11 before coming out of the game for good with 2:38 left in the third quarter, and Bryant joined him on the bench moments later after having shot just 3-of-13. But he went 13-of-14 from the foul line. Quincy Douby led the Kings (38-44) with a career-high 32 points. 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 New Orleans downed the Los Angeles Clippers to clinch the Southwest Division. The Hornets have the No. 2 seed in the playoffs in the rugged Western Conference. New Orleans struggled for a half against the reeling Clippers before putting them away with 26-6 spurt in the third quarter. The Clippers have lost six in a row and are 4-25 in their last 29 games. Paul finished with 22 points and 12 assists. Rookie Al Thornton led the Clippers with 26 points. Pistons 115, Timberwolves 103: At Auburn Hills, Michigan, Jarvis Hayes scored 20 points and Richard Hamilton added 18 as Detroit clinched the NBA's second-best record behind Boston. With the victory, Detroit will have home-court advantage over any Western Conference opponent if it makes the NBA finals. Magic 121, Hawks 105: At Atlanta, Maurice Evans scored a career-high 27 points and six of his Orlando teammates also scored in double figures. Evans had 23 points in the second half as both playoff-bound teams substituted liberally, knowing the game had no impact on their postseason positioning. Orlando already clinched the Southeast Division and will be the No. 3 seed in the East against Philadelphia. The Hawks are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 1999 as the eighth-seeded team and will play Boston. Nets 112, Bobcats 108, OT: At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Richard Jefferson scored 28 points and hit a go-ahead jumper as New Jersey rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit. Vince Carter added 18 points, Devin Harris had 17 and eight assists and the Nets limited Charlotte to 47 points in the final 29 minutes after giving up 61 in the first half. Jason Richardson had 31 points to lead Charlotte. Trail Blazers 113, Grizzlies 91: At Portland, Oregon, James Jones hit six 3-pointers and had 20 points to give Portland a win over Memphis and shot at a winning record. Brandon Roy had 16 points and 11 assists for Portland (41-40), back over .500 with one game left this season. The Blazers have not finished with a winning record since the 2002
