LOS ANGELES — After a season in which the Los Angeles Lakers were snakebitten throughout and lost Kobe Bryant at the end, they finally got lucky at the perfect time.
(Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)
And then, after the Utah Jazz loss at Memphis on Wednesday night ensured they were in the playoffs, they went out and fostered their own good fortune.
Behind a gritty overall effort and good games from the two big men, the Lakers downed the Houston Rockets 99-95 in overtime at the Staples Center in order to secure the seventh seed and set up a first-round series with San Antonio. The Grizzlies’ 86-70 win over the Jazz at the FedEx Forum earlier in the evening knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs and put the Lakers in. The Rockets’ loss means they’ll face top seed Oklahoma City in what is a series-long reunion between Houston star James Harden and the team from which he was traded back in October.
Lakers forward Pau Gasol had a triple-double (17 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists) and point guard Steve Blake had 24 points, but it was the late-game play of center Dwight Howard and guard Jodie Meeks that got it done.
Howard, who had 16 points (six of 15 shooting) and 18 rebounds in all, hit a right-hook in the paint vs. the Rockets center Omer Asik with 1:19 left to put the Lakers up 94-91 in the extra period.
He came up big again with 20 seconds left, blocking Rockets guard James Harden down low after he had driven past Gasol on the right side. Meeks (nine points on just two of nine shooting) slipped past Harden for a baseline dunk with 56 seconds left to keep the Lakers’ lead, then free throws from him and Blake ended it.
Harden finished with a game-high 30 points, but was just eight of 25 from the field. The Lakers needed overtime to finish the job because of a wild three-pointer from Rockets small forward Chandler Parsons, who took a late pass from Jeremy Lin from some five feet above the top of the arc and released just before the buzzer to force the 90-90 tie.