The Los Angeles Daily News (Elliot Teaford) reports: Purple-and-gold streamers and confetti fell on a roaring sellout crowd after the Lakers clinched the top spot in the Western Conference and secured home-court advantage for the first three rounds of the playoffs with a 124-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings. “Now we’re in the No. 1 spot, but it doesn’t mean anything unless we move forward and take care of business,” guard Derek Fisher said. Added forward Lamar Odom: “It feels great. We’ll get something to eat and talk about it a little bit and then we’ll move on. We really came together at the end of the season, and we found ourselves in first place.”
Author: Inside Hoops
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Only Heat trainer ever is retiring
The Miami Herald (Sarah Rothschild) reports: Ron Culp’s 3,001st game will be his last. The only head trainer the Heat has known in its 20-year history is retiring. Culp, who also serves as travel coordinator, is leaving after Wednesday’s season finale. It will end his run of a record-setting 37 seasons on the job. He started with the 1970-71 Cleveland Cavaliers expansion team and went to Portland in 1974, where he was part of the 1977 championship team, and arrived in Miami for its inaugural season in 1988… Culp is a three-time winner of the NBA trainer of the year award and has two championships on his résumé (including 2006 with the Heat), but his devotion to the players is as much his legacy as his decades of service.
Raptors pimpin dat dancer booty
The Toronto Star (Dave Feschuk) reports: In their insatiable quest to fatten the bottom line, the crude capitalists who run the Raptors hit below the belt this year: specifically, they sold advertising space on the backsides of the resident scantily clad dance troupe. In doing so, they gifted the lecherous among their courtside seatholders a handy excuse. Something like: “But I was looking at her ad, honey.” Branded heinies are but one of the relatively new developments casual observers might have missed in Raptorworld this season.
InsideHoops.com editor says: I support anything that gives me an excuse to look even more closely at the dancers.
Chris Paul making big MVP noise
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Jan Hubbard) reports: Chris Paul has been a nightmare for the entire league, because if opponents try to double-team him to limit his scoring, he is such a great passer that he will find the open man. “He’s really a mature player for his age, and he can do it all, ” Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. “He can shoot the 3, he can penetrate, he gets steals, he’s very, very confident. “He’s very heady, very knowledgeable of the game, can beat you in between, at the basket, he gets to the free-throw line, just causes havoc. And if you have to play against him in a seven-game series, I don’t think the opposing head coach is going to get much sleep.”
The Star-Telegram continues: Much was expected from Paul, who goes by the nickname “CP3,” which is the first letter of his first and last name and his uniform number and has nothing to do with Star Wars. Paul was the fourth player taken in the 2005 draft behind Andrew Bogut, Marvin Williams and Deron Williams. But he has exceeded even high expectations, which is why he is getting considerable support for the Most Valuable Player award this season. Kobe Bryant is the favorite, but Paul has gained momentum. If he doesn’t win it, he’s likely to finish second, ahead of Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Cleveland’s LeBron James.
Apr. 15: Lakers 124, Kings 101
The AP reports: 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… Lamar Odom added 15 points and 12 rebounds, Vladimir Radmanovic scored 14, Jordan Farmar added 13 points, and Ronny Turiaf had 10 points and six assists for the Lakers, who went strictly with reserves in the fourth quarter. Quincy Douby led the Kings (38-44) with a career-high 32 points. Beno Udrih scored 22 points, Francisco Garcia added 15 and Sheldon Williams had 12 points and a season-high 11 rebounds… The Kings played their final game of the season without their top three scorers: Kevin Martin, Ron Artest and Brad Miller.
Apr. 15: Blazers 113, Grizzlies 91
The AP reports: Brandon Roy had 16 points and 11 assists for the Blazers (41-40) who play their final game of the season Wednesday at Phoenix. Portland has not finished with a winning record since the 2002-03 season. James Jones hit six 3-pointers to lead Portland with 20 points. Jarrett Jack scored 18 points and Channing Frye added 16 for Portland… Hakim Warrick led Memphis with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Rudy Gay and Andre Brown each added 16 points… The Grizzlies were without veteran guard Mike Miller because of back spasms, and guard Javaris Crittenton, who has a sprained right thumb.
Apr. 15: Hornets 114, Clippers 92
The AP reports: The New Orleans Hornets gathered in front of their bench, wearing ball caps and T-shirts commemorating the first division championship in the franchise’s 20-year history… David West scored 32 points and Chris Paul had 12 during a decisive run in the third quarter as the Hornets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 114-92 on Tuesday night… Chris Paul finished with 22 points and 12 assists, while Chandler added 11 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie Julian Wright scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, including a thunderous dunk. Rookie Al Thornton led the Clippers with 26 points. Corey Maggette contributed 13 off the bench.
Apr. 15: Nets 112, Bobcats 108
The AP reports: For the New Jersey Nets, missing the playoffs took a lot the fun out of rallying from a 20-point deficit to beat the Charlotte Bobcats. Richard Jefferson scored 28 points and hit a go-ahead jumper in overtime and the Nets limited the Bobcats to 47 points in the final 29 minutes in a 112-108 meaningless victory on Tuesday night… Vince Carter added 18 points, Devin Harris had 17 and eight assists and Bostjan Nachbar added eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Nets won their second straight… Jason Richardson had 31 points (and 8 steals) to lead Charlotte in the game between two non-playoff teams. Nazr Mohammed added 19 points, Raymond Felton had 18 and Okafor had 15 rebounds.
Apr. 15: Pistons 115, Wolves 103
The AP reports: Flip Saunders only cares about one more thing in the regular season. He wants his Detroit Pistons to get through Wednesday’s game in Cleveland without an injury… Tuesday, Detroit got 55 points from the reserves, including 20 from Jarvis Hayes and nine each from three others. “We’re having a good time out there right now,” said Richard Hamilton, who led the starters with 18… Billups added 17 points and six assists against his former team, while Al Jefferson led Minnesota with 30 points.
Apr. 15: Magic 121, Hawks 105
The AP reports: Maurice Evans had a career-high 27 points and six of his Orlando teammates also scored in double figures, leading the Magic to a 121-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night. Evans scored 23 points in the second half as both playoff-bound teams substituted liberally, knowing the game had no impact on their postseason positioning… Orlando shot 57 percent from the field (47 of 82), getting 17 points from Hedo Turkoglu, 15 from Dwight Howard and 14 from Jameer Nelson. Rashard Lewis added 12 points, while Keyon Dooling and J.J. Redick had 11 each. Marvin Williams and Salim Stoudamire led the Hawks with 16 points apiece… Dooling had nine assists, one off his career high.