LAKERS GET BOOSTER SHOT BRYANT'S 3-POINTER IN 2ND OT WINS PACIFIC LAKERS 105, PORTLAND 104.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. - After 82 games, the final one extended by an extra 10 minutes, the Lakers reached the season's conclusion late Wednesday night, with the usual mix of elation and angst.

Kobe Bryant provided the former, with a series of clutch plays and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that delivered a 105-104 double-overtime victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Pacific Division title.

Karl Malone delivered the latter, half-limping, half-hopping away from his team with a sprained right ankle - a final troubling image to capture the night of what has been a difficult season for him and his team.

The Lakers open the playoffs Saturday at Staples Center as the No. 2 seed, and will play the seventh-seeded Houston Rockets.

But they won't know who among them is available until perhaps the 7:30 p.m. tipoff, and even then, won't really have a grip on their own identity.

It took them three hours and two overtimes just to settle their playoff seeding Wednesday night. The Sacramento Kings had lost 97-91 to the Golden State Warriors, putting the Lakers in the surprising position of being able to claim the division.

An 82-game season, marred as it was by injuries to star players, and shrouded in controversy in the final weeks, was not enough to give the Lakers any sense of who they are or what they can become.

And before it could end, Malone was back in the training room, eventually joined there by Devean George - Malone with a moderate sprain to his right ankle, George with a stain to his left calf.

Malone was injured with 18.5 seconds left in the first half. His right foot came down on the right foot of Zach Randolph, and rolled awkwardly.

Malone hopped along the baseline, then kept hopping off the court and straight to the tunnel that leads to the visitors locker room, without ever looking back. George suffered his injury in the third quarter.

Neither played again.

Bryant, coming off a season-high 45-point effort the night before, scored 37 points Wednesday, and hit the 3-pointer that forced overtime with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.

Shaquille O'Neal scored 25 points and blocked Theo Ratliff's potential game-winning layup in the final seconds of the first overtime, but fouled out early in the second overtime.

Damon Stoudamire's driving layup with 2.2 seconds left in the second overtime almost gave Portland the victory before the Lakers pulled it out, giving L.A. a 56-26 record in Jackson's fifth, and perhaps final, season.

The Lakers, who have made a habit of playing from behind, and sometimes from way behind, trailed for the first 43 minutes and 59 seconds Wednesday night, by as many as 10 points.

They finally tied the score, at 79-79, on a 3-pointer by Gary Payton with 4:01 to play, then took their first lead 40 seconds later, on a 3-pointer by Bryant.

Bryant missed several opportunities down the stretch, but forced the overtime with two huge plays - a foul that prevented a fast-break dunk by Ruben Patterson (who missed both free throws) and a 26-foot 3-pointer by Bryant to tie the score at 87-87 with 1.1 seconds left.

Even healthy, the Lakers have been anything but consistent and reliable.

The offense has morphed from night to night, altered by individual whims and a general unfamiliarity with the system by the newer players.

``(Tuesday) night, there were times out there we were running the court, I didn't recognize where guys were going,'' coach Phil Jackson said. ``Like they didn't know what direction they were going.''

There's your endorsement for the odds-on favorites to win the NBA championship.

Howard Beck, [phone]

howard.beck(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal dunks over Portland's Theo Ratliff for two of his 25 points Wednesday.

(2) Karl Malone, who scored four points before leaving with a sprained ankle, shoots over Zach Randolph in the first quarter.

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

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GAME RECAP