Originally published Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Lakers best in West, beat Kings 124-101

The Los Angeles Lakers began the season in chaos 5 ½ months ago. They finished it as the Western Conference regular-season champions...

By The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Lakers Vladimir Radmanovic, left, and Kobe Bryant celebrate after Radmanovic scores. Los Angeles clinched the top seed in the West.

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers began the season in chaos 5 ½ months ago. They finished it as the Western Conference regular-season champions.

Pau Gasol had 22 points, leading MVP candidate Kobe Bryant had 20, and the Lakers beat the short-handed Sacramento Kings 124-101 Tuesday night to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West and home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs.

The Lakers (57-25), who won eight of their last nine games, begin the playoffs this weekend — most likely Sunday — against Denver or Dallas. It will be the Nuggets unless they beat Memphis and Dallas loses to New Orleans tonight. If the Hornets win, they'll have the same record as the Lakers, but Los Angeles wins the tiebreaker by virtue of a better conference record.

Gasol shot 9 of 11 before coming out of the game for good with 2:38 left in the third quarter, and Bryant joined him on the bench moments later after having shot just 3 of 13. But he went 13 of 14 from the foul line.

"The West is obviously extremely tough this year, and for us to have to play through what we played through all season long and get a top spot, we feel pretty good about it," Bryant said. "It's been a great turnaround. It's been a testament to hard work and the bond that we share with one another. There's still much work to do."

Quincy Douby led the Kings (38-44) with a career-high 32 points.

The Kings played their final game of the season without their top three scorers: Kevin Martin, Ron Artest and Brad Miller.

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