PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Lakers must defeat the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden on Wednesday in order to have any shot of clinching the Pacific Division title.
The Lakers are tied with the Sacramento Kings atop the division, but the Kings own the tiebreaker. Los Angeles must beat Portland and hope the Kings lose at Golden State in order to win the division and secure the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
If the Lakers lose or the Kings beat the Warriors, Los Angeles will be the the third or fourth seed.
Los Angeles kept alive its division-title chances with a 109-104 victory over Golden State on Tuesday.
Kobe Bryant, who had just eight points in a loss to the Kings on Sunday, responded with a season-high 45 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and Shaquille O'Neal added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who rallied from a 16-point third-quarter deficit.
Portland has lost three straight games and saw a 21-year postseason streak end Monday night when Denver beat Sacramento. The Trail Blazers then suffered a 78-66 loss to San Antonio here.
Zach Randolph had 13 points and nine rebounds for Portland, which shot a season-low 31 percent and scored its fewest points of the campaign.
The Trail Blazers have won two of the first three meetings this season, including a 112-108 victory here on December 13. The teams have split the last six season series since Portland went 3-1 during the 1996-97 campaign.
