LAKERS FINALLY CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT BRYANT SCORES 50 TO SPARK VICTORY.

Byline: ROSS SILER

Staff Writer

Whenever he draws up a game plan for the first round of the playoffs, Lakers coach Phil Jackson undoubtedly will consider his team's recent history as a guide. What he already knows is the correlation between Kobe Bryant's scoring and the Lakers' scarce wins.

With a playoff berth in sight Sunday night at Staples Center, Bryant never lost focus in scoring 50 points as the Lakers ended a four-game losing streak and punched their postseason ticket with a 109-98 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

There was history made with Bryant's reverse dunk with 1:28 remaining. It was his 10th 50-point game of the season, the third-most in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain had 45 such games in the 1961-62 season and 32 games in the 1962-63 season.

That Bryant needed to hit the half-century mark just for the Lakers to beat a Seattle team missing three injured starters was a problem that could wait for another day. After a season filled with injuries and losing streaks, the Lakers finally could look forward to the playoffs.

The Lakers would head to Phoenix for a first-round playoff rematch with the Suns if they win their regular-season finale Wednesday at Sacramento or if Golden State loses either of its last two games.

Otherwise, the Lakers would finish as the No. 8 seed and play Dallas in the first round. The Lakers lead Golden State by a half-game for seventh in the standings and the ninth-place Clippers by 11/2 games.

Bryant scored 17 points in the first quarter as the Lakers looked poised to make quick work of the Sonics. He was needed for another 18 points in the third quarter, though, and supplied the biggest baskets as the Lakers finished the job in the fourth.

Even before the Lakers learned of the Clippers' loss to Sacramento earlier Sunday, Jackson had a message for his team. The Lakers went into Sunday's game with just a half-game lead over Golden State and the Clippers in a three-team race for two playoff spots.

"Our morning shootaround was all about coming in and making it happen tonight," Jackson said.

The coach also showed he wasn't above making a change in Game 81 of the season, removing guard Smush Parker from the starting lineup and replacing him with rookie Jordan Farmar. Center Kwame Brown also returned from an ankle injury.

With Mike Wilks beating Parker off the dribble, the Sonics closed to within 87-86 with 7:58 left and had three shots to take the lead. But Bryant drilled a 3-pointer and hit a spectacular hanging jumper over Chris Wilcox and Mickael Gelabale to make it 96-89.

Bryant ripped the ball away from Gelabale at the other end and hit 3 of 4 free throws as the Lakers built their lead to 101-89.

The Sonics played without three injured guards -- Ray Allen, Luke Ridnour and Earl Watson, all of whom are done for the season -- in the second game of a back-to-back set. Jackson was concerned about a 3-point shooting team like Seattle playing with reckless abandon. But the Lakers were the fast and loose team in the first quarter.

There was Lamar Odom touch-passing an offensive rebound to Bryant for a reverse layup and Odom faking a pass to Bryant on the fast break only to glide in for a layup.

Farmar brought the energy Parker has lacked as the Lakers scored 13 straight points in the quarter. He leaped to deflect a Wilks inbound pass and force a turnover, then nailed a turnaround jumper at the other end.

He went on to whip a behind-the-back pass to Brown, who went to the foul line, hit a zone-busting 3-pointer and was robbed of a buzzer-beating basket to end the quarter when Wilcox wasn't called for goaltending.

Bryant scored 17 points in the first quarter against the overmatched Gelabale and Damien Wilkins. That was more than the Sonics accounted for as a team, trailing 29-15 after the opening 12 minutes.

Parker started the second quarter alongside Sasha Vujacic in the backcourt with Bryant on the bench. The Lakers outscored Seattle 17-12 in the six minutes Bryant spent on the bench, though they let up and went into halftime leading 55-46.

Every time he had put on the Lakers uniform before Sunday, Parker had found himself in the starting lineup, a streak of 162 consecutive games that ranked as fourth-longest in the league. But Jackson decided it was never too late to make a change.

After benching Parker for so many recent fourth quarters, Jackson opted to start Farmar, who had not even played in Friday's loss to Phoenix and played three development league games this month just to get minutes.

"I'm trying to find out what's the combination's going to be that gives us the best effort as a team," Jackson said before the game. "It's funny to be fiddling with it still after 80 games, but that's what we have to do.

"We've invested a lot of time and energy in that crew of guys that have started, but it hasn't been successful for us, so we have to make some changes. We're trying to figure out a pattern."

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

The Lakers' Kobe Bryant makes his way to the basket Sunday. He finished with 50 points.

Ana P. Gutierrez/ Special to the Daily News