KOBE'S 50 EQUALS ONE BRYANT GETS RECORD; L.A. A WIN AWAY FROM PLAYOFFS LAKERS 110, PORTLAND 99.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

The playoff celebration will have to wait another two days, but that didn't stop Kobe Bryant from thinking back to his years growing up in Italy and smiling a little after Friday night's 110-99 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

With his 50-point game, Bryant broke Elgin Baylor's single-season franchise scoring record, bringing back memories of watching highlights from Baylor's playing days on an old "Golden Greats of Basketball" videotape.

The two haven't talked much since Bryant chose to re-sign with the Lakers instead of Baylor's Clippers two summers ago, but Bryant wanted to make sure Baylor knew something this morning.

"If he picks up the paper and reads it," Bryant said, "he should know that I owe a lot of it to him and the other great players as well."

The night belonged to Bryant but there were two other notable performances. Lamar Odom delivered his second consecutive triple-double and Kwame Brown totaled 20points and nine rebounds as the Lakers won for the ninth time in 12 games.

They were unable to clinch a playoff berth, though, as Utah beat the Hornets. The Lakers (43-37) still moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Sacramento for seventh in the Western Conference standings and would clinch with a victory Sunday over Phoenix.

That will be a tougher test than Friday's game, as well as a possible playoff preview and the chance for the Lakers to finally break through with their first victory over the Suns in eight games since the Shaquille O'Neal trade.

"We're going to break them down a little bit," Bryant said, "study them and see if we can't come out on Sunday and play a great game."

The Lakers led by as many as 21 points in the first half Friday but needed Bryant to score 35points in the second half to finally put away the Blazers, who lost for the 25th time in 28games since the All-Star break.

Bryant bounced back from missing two free throws early in the third quarter to set the scoring record on a 3-pointer with 9:06 left. Bryant has scored 2,754 points this season, breaking Baylor's record of 2,719 set in 1962-63.

After the game, Bryant talked about watching over and over the moves of Baylor and the other greats on the tape. The first step Bryant uses to beat defenders, he says, is taken directly from Baylor.

Bryant went 17 of 28 for the game, drilled five 3-pointers, threw down two 360-degree dunks and hit one triple-pump shot over Jarrett Jack early in the fourth quarter. It was his sixth 50-point game in an otherworldly season.

He and Odom also satisfied a goal they talked about as far back as training camp, with Bryant scoring 50 points in the same game Odom had a triple-double.

The last time two teammates combined for such a game came Feb. 10, 1998 when Tracy Murray scored 50 points for Washington and Rod Strickland had a triple-double.

Odom finished with 16points, 12 rebounds and 12assists. Lakers coach Phil Jackson chided Bryant for taking his last 3-pointer out of the offense, but Bryant told Jackson he and Odom had something to accomplish.

It took Odom 140 games to record his first triple-double with the Lakers but he walked out Friday saying, "I really want to get four in a row going into the postseason."

The Lakers put on a show in racing to a 36-18 lead after one quarter, though the easy night was not to be. The highlight came as Odom had his missed free throw tipped back to him by Brown and threw down a dunk over Portland's Theo Ratliff.

The big lead gave Jackson the flexibility to experiment a little, which he did in the second quarter, playing rookie center Andrew Bynum and bringing veteran guard Aaron McKie off the bench for Bryant.

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CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant drives to the basket in Friday night's game against Portland.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) SCORING KING

(2) PLAYOFF CHASE