Lakers take the first step

Pau Gasol took the ball, cradled it and almost threw it discus-style into the stands.

Then he thought better of it, perhaps saving it for another celebration down the road.

The Lakers were woozy and wobbly, heading into darker territory in the Western Conference before mounting a fourth-quarter comeback and beating the Dallas Mavericks, 112-108, Friday night at Staples Center.

They were emotionally charged after the victory, with contributions from an armful of players, and clinched a playoff spot for the 55th time in the franchise's 60-year existence.

Lamar Odom had a season-high 31 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Kobe Bryant had 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Gasol, in only his second game back from a sprained left ankle, had 25 points and seven assists.

The Lakers (52-24) also did themselves a favor in the West, moving into a second-place tie with San Antonio (52-24) and staying within 1 1/2 games of front-running New Orleans. The Lakers have six games left in the regular season, including home games against New Orleans and San Antonio.

The night was tense, perhaps a little too much for Coach Phil Jackson's liking.

"I told the guys congrats, but that's not good enough," he said. "We want home-court advantage in this playoffs."

That they could still talk about such a thing was testimony mainly to Odom, who battled an upper-respiratory infection last week but was crucial to the Lakers' well-being Friday.

The Lakers, lifeless and limp in the first half on the way to trailing by as many as 14 points, pulled to within 106-105 on Odom's running layup with 1:14 to play.

He then played tight defense on Dirk Nowitzki, forcing the reigning league MVP into missing short from 12 feet.

Then came the play of the game, a dunk by Gasol that had Odom's fingerprints all over it.

Gasol fed Odom down low, then Odom fired the ball back to a cutting Gasol, who was fouled by Josh Howard and converted a three-point play for a 108-106 lead with 40.8 seconds left.

Sasha Vujacic then poked the ball away from Nowitzki in the post and Bryant made two free throws at the other end for a 110-106 lead with 17.8 seconds left to play.

Odom, who had to have four stitches in the right side of his head after being fouled hard by Nowitzki in the first quarter, was still sweating 45 minutes after the game.

"[Jackson] was making fun of my jump shot earlier this morning in shoot-around," Odom said. "So I just took it to the hole."