New Orleans Hornets

As they struggle to secure a playoff berth, the Lakers got crucial help Wednesday as the Denver Nuggets defeated the Jazz, 113-96, in Utah. With the loss, Utah falls to 39-37 with six games remaining. The Lakers (39-36) have for the moment climbed into eighth place with seven games left. The Lakers will make the playoffs if they win all seven, but Utah holds the head-to-head tiebreaker should the two teams finish with the same record (by virtue of the Jazz's 2-1 regular-season record against the Lakers)

SAN ANTONIO — When it comes to the injury front, the Clippers always seem to be in the one-step-forward, one-step-backward mode this season. So it figures that just when it looked as if the Clippers were completely healthy again, Chauncey Billups aggravated his strained right groin, leaving his playing status for the rest of the season in doubt. Billups won't play against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said Thursday, and there isn't a timetable the team is able to give for the shooting guard's return.

NEW ORLEANS - On a night when the Clippers were still smarting and weary from an overtime loss to Dallas, they received the lift it needed from their reserves. Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Ryan Hollins, Lamar Odom and Eric Bledsoe won this game with their play in the fourth quarter, helping the Clippers carve out a 105-91 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night at the New Orleans Arena. Because those five played so well, it allowed Chris Paul to play just 33 minutes 44 seconds against the Hornets, one night after he played 39:27 against the Mavericks on Tuesday night.

The Lakers lost a winnable game on Wednesday, unable to take advantage of the short-handed Atlanta Hawks. After a victory on Tuesday in Orlando, the Lakers failed for the 13th time this season to win both games in a back-to-back set. So far this year, the Lakers have lost both games on back-to-back nights three times. In five cases they've redeemed a loss in the first game with win in the second. The Lakers have won only the first game of back-to-back contests five times. With 16 games left in the regular season, the Lakers still have three more opportunities to win on consecutive nights.  They host the Sacramento Kings this Sunday followed by a visit to the Phoenix Suns on Monday.

The Lakers (32-31) had a productive Saturday while preparing to meet the Chicago Bulls on Sunday afternoon. How important were the two wild wins this week over the New Orleans Hornets and Toronto Raptors? Mathematically, the Lakers are guaranteed to finish no lower than seventh if they win every remaining game this season.  While that may be unrealistic, the numbers don't lie. The Golden State Warriors (35-29), Houston Rockets (34-30) and Utah Jazz (32-31) all lost on Saturday, pulling the Lakers a half-game closer to the top six, seven and eight positions in the Western Conference.

Fresh off their Tuesday loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers (30-31) visit the New Orleans Hornets (21-40) on Wednesday night. The Hornets are not a good basketball team -- currently in 14th place in the Western Conference and 25th overall -- but they won't be a pushover. Over their past 14 games at home, they have won eight. The Lakers leave Oklahoma City with Kobe Bryant dealing with an elbow injury (ulnar nerve contusion), Metta World Peace with a sprained ankle and Dwight Howard with a minor re-aggravation of his shoulder injury (torn labrum)

NEW ORLEANS -- Forget for a minute that it happened against the New Orleans Hornets, the team with the worst home record in the Western Conference. Disregard for a few seconds how the Lakers found themselves down 25 points - 25 points - to the team paying rent in the West basement for much of the time this season. The Lakers might have finally found something in their goofiest twist yet, their largest comeback since 2002 with a 108-102 victory Wednesday at New Orleans Arena. All it took was a 20-0 run to end the game, amid 12 consecutive missed Hornets shots and five New Orleans turnovers in the final six minutes.

Lakers 108, Hornets 102 (final) The Lakers came back from a 25-point deficit to stun the Hornets in New Orleans. With their playoff hopes seemingly on the brink, the Lakers rattled off 20 unanswered points to close out a 108-102 victory on Wednesday night. The Lakers scored 33 points while holding the Hornets to nine in the final quarter.  New Orleans scored its final points on a Robin Lopez dunk with 6:47 left in the fourth quarter. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 42 points and 12 assists.  Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds including a key block on Lopez with 27.1 seconds left and the Lakers up by just two. The Lakers shot 48.7% from the field and 39.3% from three-point range (11-28)

The Lakers won two of three games in Week 18, climbing back to .500 (30-30) for the first time since their loss on New Year's Day to the Philadelphia 76ers. With 22 games remaining, the Lakers are just three games behind the sixth-place Golden State Warriors (33-27) and 2½ behind both the Utah Jazz (32-27) and Houston Rockets (33-28). The Lakers still play the Warriors twice and Houston once, with the tiebreaker still up for grabs.  The Jazz have the advantage over the Lakers after completing the season series up 2-1. Overall, the Lakers are still four losses below the cumulative predictions for weeks 1-18 . Tuesday at Oklahoma City Thunder The Lakers had one of their best wins of the season in late January when they beat the Thunder at Staples Center 105-96.

Tuesday night's win over the New Orleans Hornets was a difficult one for Lakers center/forward Pau Gasol. "It's fun to win but when a team comes back on you the way the Hornets did tonight, and you're not there as a high-quality player and a competitor, it's frustrating," Gasol said. Already bothered by Coach Mike D'Antoni's decision to have him come off the bench behind Earl Clark, Gasol also sat the fourth quarter as the Hornets made a late run. When D'Antoni rushed his starters back in to staunch the bleeding, Gasol just sat and watched.