With their playoff position at stake, it's highly important that Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers close out their final games of the season, first with a Friday night matchup against the visiting Golden State Warriors at 10:30 p.m. ET.
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Via ESPN:
One night after scoring 23 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter of a 104-96 victory win New Orleans, Bryant went off for a season-high 47 in Wednesday's 113-106 victory at Portland.
"What he is doing is phenomenal. He's determined to get us in the playoffs," said coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team has won five of six. "That's what happens when you open your mouth and guarantee that we'll get in the playoffs."
The eighth-place Lakers (42-37) are now one game ahead of Utah for the Western Conference's final postseason berth with three to go. Los Angeles, though, needs to finish ahead of the Jazz, who own the tiebreaker.
"We've got no breathing room at all," Bryant said. "I'm still on edge. We've got to win three more games and we're in."
The Lakers control their own destiny, but their road to the postseason could be tough.
After this game, Los Angeles concludes its schedule against San Antonio and Houston. Utah, meanwhile, plays Northwest Division-worst Minnesota twice before visiting Memphis.
The Lakers, though, have to like their chances of taking care of business versus Golden State (45-34). They have won 34 of 37 in the series at home, including the last nine by an average of 14.7 points. Los Angeles cruised to an easy 101-77 victory during the Warriors' last visit Nov. 9.
The Lakers had gone 18-1 in the series overall before coming up short 109-103 at Golden State on March 25. Bryant had 36 points but shot just 11 of 27. He's averaging 33.8 in his last eight matchups against the matchups against the Warriors
