10.5 to play!-

Blake fouled. Goes to the line. This is his chance to be Kobe. He has 22 points in the game. 

Harden at the line. Sinks 1-2. Money. 2-2 Lakers lead down to just two-point lead. 

Rockets inbound--- Lakers have a foul to give, which they didn't use before. Harden goes to the line after the Lakers foul in the act of shooting

14.5 remaining in the game! Lakers up four. Final timeout taken! Can't get the ball inbounds. 

16 seconds to play--- Lakers don't go to the line. Will inbound the ball. Meeks to the line. Now Meeks can really put it away after his base line dunk. Meeks misses! THIS COULD BE IT!

Howard blocks Harden. A lot of contact! Harden had Gasol on him taking away the three. Blake with the ball. Shooting free throws. Could ice this one as he looks to be going to the line. 

One minute remaining... MEEKS WITH THE JAM!!!

Harden still in the game. Parsons with the ball against Jamison. blocked by Gasol! The defene from the Lakers has been pretty good in the second half. HOWARD WITH THE LAYUP! ...Harden answers right back!

1:55 to play-- Rocket ball as Jamison couldn't bring down the offensive rebound. 

2:55 to play--- Gasol with the jumper. Howard jams it away from Howard. Harden goes down hard. Howard really manned him up. No foul. Lakers can't connect on the other end. 

Gasol hurries shot. 3:15 to play--- Lakers defense stifling! Lakers with chance to take the lead again. Howard with the turnover. 

Interesting to know. Asik has five fouls in the game. Howard on Asik and the bounce doesnt fall! Lakers fans still in it. LinPenetrates. Parsons fakes. Takes about five steps. Turnover as he throws it right at Meeks. 

YUCK! Lakers with an ugly possession. Gasol with week shotafter the rebound. Parsons draws foul on Howard.

What a game. The Lakers had the turnover. Meeks couldn't get his hands on the ball. Lin eventually had it. Faked the three, attracted two Lakers. Parsons sunk it on a linedrive from deeeeeep. 

WITH A LOOSE BALL SHUFFLE PARSONS KNOCKS DOWN THE THREE!!! OVERTIME!!!

Meeks 2-2 from the free throw! Lakers' lead back up to three. 16.7 remaining in the game--- 

Harden brings it up. 10 second on the shot clock. From behind the ark. Lin with the shot! HE MISSES! Houston doesn't foul!! Gasol almost commits the turnover! Meek saves it. Lin called for the foul. 

49 seconds remaining--- Rockets call timeout--- 

Lakers fans on their feet. Gasol pumped fake. Why!? Then he gets blocked!!! Shot clock violation. 

They say it's off of Lin... No! Houston ball. They get it right. 7 seconds on the shot clock. They'll look for Harden. There he is. OFF BALANCE AND CRASHES INTO CHEERLEADERS!!! One-point game! 

Lakers force turnover. No? Maybe? Play being reviewed. Lin was very adamant about the call. Ball is out off Jamison. 

The Lakers have to take advantage of the Rockets deficiency on offense. With less than 2 minutes to play this is Harden's time to win it. 

TIMEOUT ON THE FLOOR

Just over two minutes remaining for the seventh seed in the West!

DEFENSE HAS STEPPED IT UP! Howard prevents scores twice and Asik blocks Howard off the double team. 

Harden with the steal ja, , the Lakers' sweeping guy plays more defense as he momentarily slows down Harden who went in for the jam as the janitor was cleaning the Rockets' side of the floor. 

3:56 remaining--- Howard knocks down both free throws and the Lakers crowd is yelling and asking for defense! Harden misses a three. 

A  lot of bodies hitting the floor, but no whistles called. Asik called for fifth foul now as he tries to grab the rebound.

Both teams playing sloppy basketball. Meeks misses wide open three. Jamison drove to the lane and took an offbalance shot that went nowhere. 

JAMISON WITH THE THREE! 5:40 to play--- 

Howard sets illegal screen. Van Gundy calling it a flop. Lin in the game. Rockets ball. He's running circles and can't sink the fade away. 

The L.A. crowd is in it. Howard knocks down Beverley as he tries to disrespect him and dunk over him. Rockets to the line. 

The Lakers were down by 11 at one point in this one. Let's see if they can hold on. Rockets were taking wild shots. 

Gasol with the jumper... BLAKE KNOCKS A THREE DOWN FROM PORTLAND!!! 

79-74 Beverley with the layup. Howard answers on the other end with layup. 

Now Howard to the line--- misses first 1-2. 

AND-1! Rockets' Asik. Parsons with the assist... Lane violation on the Lakers. Not surprised. Asik 56% free throw shooter. Misses again. 

TWO POINT GAME! 75-73

ROCKETS OVER THE FOUL LIMIT!!! Gasol with a questionable pass after a long rebound--- Beverley called for the foul. 

Four fouls on the Rockets already. Howard 1-2 from the line. Lakers get offensive rebound. Four-point game. 

Lakers miss opportunity to make it a three-point or two-point game.... Have to settle down if they want this. Playing OOGLY basketball. And Rockets make them pay Asik with the dunk. 

DELFINO BEHIND THE BACK AND PARSONS WITH THE JAM! AND why is Morris handling the ball for the Lakers???

Crowd wanted the travel on Parsons. Garcia misses the three. Howard fouled again. Already second foul on Rockets

Lakers inbound in the fourth quarter... Gasol turns it over after a bad pass. 

Score 69-64 going to the Final Quarter

Morris with the jumper. Harden with the ball. Passes it. Parsons gets blocked! GASOL DIDN'T EVEN JUMP! First person over giving Gasol a high five is Blake.

WE MIGHT SEE BLAKE IN THE NOT TOP 10 after Parsons loses him after crafty dribbling. 

1 minute remaining--- MORRIS FROM DOWNTOWN!

Never mind... Parsons with the penetration. Jamison misses the shot. Harden runs it and misses And-1 opportunity. Misses first free throw- 1-2. 

Jamison at the line. Can trim lead to five. And he does. with 1:40 remaining in the third-- 

2:09--- Whoa Whoa Whoa! Blake tries to make it a four-point game. Misses three. the Rockets run. Then Harden takes four steps before dunking. Points are waived. TIMEOUT.

Harden with the ball. Morris on the defense. Delfino with a horrible shots. Blake runs the offense. Gasol with the shoft touch on the jumper. 

Lakers fans clap faintly

Here comes Gasol. Blake at the line. Sinks first Laker points in almost two minutes

3:36 to play--- Harden with the three! Boosh! 

Jamison giving the Lakers a boost. Makes bucket and now forces turnover. Howard gets the ball. Called for 3-second as he made his move.

5:05 remaining- Jamison with the lay in. Delay of game on the Lakers. 

Howard grabs a rebound after Blake miss. Gets fouled

TIMEOUT--- Just about six minutes remaining in the third quarter. 

MWP with the ball. Wow. Looks like he walked. MWP should never handle the ball.  Jump ball it is. 

Howard misses both free throws. Might be better for the Lakers for him to stay away from the line. 

Blake can't finish. 10-point lead on fastbreak. 

World Peace called for his third foul. LIN FROM THREE! Back to eight. 

MWP and the Lakers now turning it up. And-1! 

Howard with the moves! Five-point game. . . Lin answers back with short jumper over Blake. 

56-47 Parsons pops the three. Howard catches it deep in the paint! No stopping him. Two points

53-47 Lin with the ball. Harden. Misses. Gasok can't bring it down. MWP called for the foul. Asik and Peace exchanging some words. 

Rockets ball with 10 seconds- parson bricks.... Blake has ball. MWP for three...BOOM!

53-44 Rockets lead after Lin goes 1-2 from teh lin. Lin looks for Harden. Harden defended by MWP. Loses the ball. Howard playing pretty defense. Harden wanted the foul. 

52-44 Lakers with the ball. Lin draws foul. Lakers already 0-2 in the third quarter

Howard steps it up defensively strips ball... PARSONS WITH THE RUN and DUNK!

THIRD QUARTER Begins---- Rockets bring ball up. Up 50-44

HALFTIME--- Check out these stat

Lin penetrates! Nobody touches Howard. Lin at the line with 1.2 seconds remaining. This is why the Lakers aren't going anywhere. They had a foul to give and nobody attempted to foul Lin. Howard heaves. Ball bounces off the backboard. Crowd groans.

MWP goes 2-2 from the free throw line. MWP playing tough defense. Harden gets bumped. BLAKE DRAWS A FOUL!!! He ot tangled up with Harden at mid-court. 2 shot foul.

LIN WITH ANOTHER PASS!! Alley to Smith 49-40 Rockets lead. He's having trouble shooting but he can dissect the Lakers' defense all night.

Harden can't sink the jumper after numerous dribbles as awkward as his beard.

47-40 Rockets up.. Gasol can't handle the dribble. 

47-40 after Blake gets the reverse lay-in ....2:05 remaining-- 

Harden sinks a three. Gasol gets a tip in. Lin finds Asik open again! 

ONCE AGAIN! A point I've made over and over again. Guys try to draw fouls instead of finishing at the basket. Meeks missed a fast break layup that was easy because he thought he was going to get fouled. 

42-36 the score with less than four remaining. 

4:24- Gasol misses jumper-- No problem. Parson answers back on the other side. 

Lin triple-teamed and HE STILL FINDS ASIK OPEN!!! He responds to Gasol's jumper. Back to a four point lead.

Asik and Harden not on the same page. Harden's upset. Second time they botch an alley

Howard can't get past Asik? Oh! But he knocks Harden down and gets the block. No foul. Ball goes out bounds. Good call.

38-32 Rockets lead. Blake sinks a jumper... 38-34. The Lakers are fighting. 

36-32 Harden goes to the line after MWP fouls Harden. Crowd and Lakers react to a call they thought was bad. 

Metta World Peace was wide open from three. Waiting for opponent to get in his face and then sank the jump. 

7:11-- 36-30 Rockets lead

Francisco Garcia with a jumper... Gasol answers back with a hook from deep inside the paint

Punk fake. Step up. Step back. Three! Good! Boy Blake doesn't have a pretty shot since you can really see his follow-through with the right hand as he pushes the ball out, but it worked.

8:26- 34-25 the score in the second quarter as the Lakers took a timeout. 

Just 3 minutes into the second quarter and the Rockets are up 9! lakers not getting back on defense! Rockets second unite is insane! Not to mention young. 

The Rockets finish the quarter with a missed jumper by Harden. 

Score- 21-24Rockets up. -------------END OF THE 1ST QUARTER---------

1:20 remaining in the first quarter- BANG! Harden pops a three with a defender in his face.

Delfino misses jumper. No field goals for Rockets in over four minutes. Howard doubled. Clark blocked. Rockets take it the other way.

James Harden sinks a free throw-- 1 for 2.....  2 for 2 ending Lakers 9-0 run

2:42 remaining in the 1st quarter-- Harden gets fouled as he's driving to the basket.

Lakers with a 9-0 Run... Jamison with an offensive rebound and the put-back 

3:40 Howard drives, but can't connect. Still 19-18 Lakers lead

4:00 7-0 run for the Lakers as Blake sinks a three following consecutive offensive rebounds, a battle the Lakers seem to be winning early.

Lakers now on a 4-0 run score is 18-16. Howard with consecutive buckets

5:45-Lakers trailing 18-14 early on. Harden has 7 points and Lin has added 5.

The Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to cement their place in the NBA Playoffs as they get set to play the Houston Rockets in the final game of the regular season. Of course, they will be without Kobe Bryant, so find out if they can pull of the victory. Check out the scoring updates with color commentary of this NBA matchup that will surely leave people ecstatic or disappointed after it's conclusion. Tipoff is at 10:30 p.m. ET, but let's look at the matchups. 

The Lakers will have to depend on Dwight Howard, and hopefully for the purple and gold, Howard has been practicing his free throws. He's the most fearsome Laker in uniform following Bryant's Achilles injury. Steve Nash isn't suiting up so Steve Blake will be running the point along with Jodie Meeks. These guys will be in charge of getting the ball to Howard. They will need Metta World Peace to control his elbows and simply defend James Harden like a regular player. Pau Gasol will also have to give Howard a hand on the boards and in the paint. 

All in all, this is the Lakers last chance to solidify their spot in the playoffs. With a loss, they would have to depend on the Memphis Grizzlies to defeat the Utah Jazz, who are just a game behind the Lakers and own the season tiebreaker.

The good news for the Lakers, they are playing at home and are winners of four straight games more importantly, they won their last game against the San Antonio Spurs following Bryant's injury that sidelined him for the final two games of the season. Right now, Bryant's hopes are to return to basketball next season. The Lakers are hoping to at least build some chemsitry without their court general available.

Will the Lakers look like the New York Yankees in 2012 after Derek Jeter went down with a broken ankle in the playoffs?

Will the Lakers rise to the occasion and put a hurting on the Jeremy Lin, Harden and the Rockets?

Refers the page and scroll up to the top of the article for the latest scoring updates and game info.