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Andrew Bynum scored 36 points, Kobe Bryant added 31 and the first-place Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Clippers 113-108 on Wednesday night, widening their Pacific Division lead to 21/2 games over the second-place Clippers and snapping their rival’s winning streak at six games.
By taking two out of three against their Staples Center co-tenants, the Lakers also earned the head-to-head tiebreaker in a game that could help decide the division winner and playoff seeding in the West. The division winner will likely earn the No. 3 seed behind Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
Former Laker Caron Butler scored 28 points to lead six Clippers in double figures. Chris Paul added 22 points and 16 assists, Blake Griffin had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the West’s fourth-place team – the designated home team. Their winning streak was the franchise’s best in 20 years.
Ramon Sessions added 16 points and eight assists for the Lakers, who won their fourth in a row. Bynum bounced back with an offensive performance that was one point off his season high after missing one game with a sprained left ankle and running afoul of the front office with some questionable on-court behavior.
— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press