LOS ANGELES (AP) Kobe Bryant scored six of his 26 points in the second overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half for a 114-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

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(Reuters) - The San Antonio Spurs moved to within one victory of securing the Western Conference top seed for the playoffs on Sunday as the NBA's leading contenders continued to jostle for position in the final week of the regular season. The Spurs easily defeated Cleveland 114-98, after Oklahoma City suffered a heartbreaking double overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers, handing San Antonio a one-and-a-half game advantage over the Thunder in the conference. ...

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The Los Angeles Clippers posted an impressive win on Monday night, notching a 92-77 home victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder — their second straight over the Kevin Durant- and Russell Westbrook-led crew — to extend their winning streak to four and stay just a game back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with five games to play. It was an impressive win that saw some impressive performances off the L.A. bench, which chipped in 36 points on just under 50 percent shooting for the game, plus 17 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks. After the game, Clippers guard Nick Young — who did the lion's share of the damage, leading the Clips in scoring with 19 points on 10 shots in reserve duty — dapped up his fellow second-unit players for their contributions. From Beth Harris of The Associated Press : ''We're one of the best second units in the league,'' said Young, who joined the Clippers a month ago in a trade from Washington. ''I'm excited. I was waiting for one of these type of games. To get it tonight against one of the league's top teams was great.'' It's good for Nick Young to think that — I'm sure coach Vinny Del Negro doesn't want his reserves to think that they stink or anything, and a Nick Young without confidence is a Nick Young less likely to take quite as many irrational long jumpers. (Wait, that might be a good thing.) Realistically, though, he is wrong, and he's pumping the L.A. reserves' tires in a way that defies reality. The Clippers bench is not one of the best benches in the league. Like, definitely not.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Pau Gasol made back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game without Kobe Bryant, 112-108 over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Pau Gasol made back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game without Kobe Bryant, 112-108 over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

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As of April 15, 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns are the remaining playoff hopefuls from the Western Conference's Pacific Division for the 2011-12 NBA season. The Lakers and Clippers are battling for the regular-season championship of their division. The Suns are just trying to snatch one of the final seeds in the Western Conference playoffs.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Andrew Bynum had 30 points and eight rebounds, Matt Barnes added a season-high 24 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched a playoff berth without Kobe Bryant or coach Mike Brown, holding off the Denver Nuggets 103-97 Friday night.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Head's up, BDL readers: The video clip below contains a swear word for manure. Don't say we didn't warn you. Playing without Kobe Bryant for the third straight game as the All-Star shooting guard rests an injured shin, the Los Angeles Lakers needed strong performances from the rest of their roster to score a road victory on Wednesday night against a 40-15 San Antonio Spurs team that had rested stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in a Tuesday night loss to the Utah Jazz. Mike Brown's team got that balanced, quality effort, with Metta World Peace popping for a season-high 26 points, Pau Gasol chipping in a 21-and-11 double-double, and the point-guard tandem of Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake combining for 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds in L.A.'s 98-84 win . [ Video: Who will win the West in the NBA? ] The biggest contribution, though, came from Andrew Bynum. L.A.'s often immature and often unstoppable 24-year-old center dominated the middle on Wednesday, grabbing an NBA season-high 30 rebounds — eight offensive, 22 defensive — in the win. San Antonio had 33 as a team . Back in the locker room after the Lakers' big road win, though, Bynum downplayed his triumph on the glass, choosing instead to emphasize the offensive travails that led him to score 16 points on just 7-of-20 shooting: ''It's great to have 30 boards, but my shot's not working and I'm little upset about that [...] For me, I'll remember shooting poorly.'' Bynum was a bit more blunt, and foul-mouthed, about his struggles when KCAL-TV's Mike Trudell approached the center on the court following the final buzzer: Ah, the unyielding perils of live television. Just a step slow on the ol' dump-button draw there, friends. Better luck next time. Bynum might not want to talk about his rebounding performance, but we do. Hit the jump for more on the Laker big man's big night on the boards.

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It's entirely possible that the latest twist in this Dwight Howard saga is at once the most ridiculous and most understandable. The New York Post is picking up on months' worth of rumors that had the Orlando All-Star ( and budding GM ) scared at the thought of either having to act as Kobe Bryant's clear number two in Los Angeles, or working under a heightened sense of expectations after being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a result, says one "Orlando source," Howard was actually threatened with a deal to the championship-contending Lakers unless he picked up his contract option with Orlando for 2012-13. And instead of the Lakers, Kerber relays the fact that most in the NBA have known since the beginning. That Howard, all along, wanted to go to New Jersey instead. The easy hook here is, "not Los Angeles … but New Jersey?," and you're right to take it. From the Post : According to league sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Orlando brass got fed up with Howard's yes-no-maybe posturing and threatened to trade him to the Lakers, not his desired location, if he did not sign an agreement to waive the opt-out clause for the final season of his contract. Howard eventually signed the papers, but only after he was told "he would be a Laker by the end of the day," according to one source.

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Veteran center Ronny Turiaf has been around the NBA, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Washington Wizards and Denver Nuggets -- who waived him last month after being acquired in a three-team trade (he never actually played for the Nuggets,...

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