San Antonio

BOSTON -- At the corner of Boylston and Berkeley streets, two blocks from the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Sue Baker stood quietly for a minute Thursday with her 9-year-old son, Jackson, looking over an impromptu memorial: running shoes, a finisher's medal, Red Sox souvenirs for kids, a children's book called "Rabbits and Raindrops. " On Monday afternoon, the two were in the happy, noisy crowd at the famous last turn of the race, Hereford to Boylston, waiting to see Baker's best friend finish.

Kobe Bryant is sidelined after sustaining a torn left Achilles' tendon, the workaholic confined to his bed to watch games on television after 17 years of going full bore. Is Bryant using this time to relax, to take a break? Quite the contrary. In each of the two games he has missed, Sunday against San Antonio and Wednesday against Houston, Bryant has either sent texts or called  players during the game. In Sunday's win over the Spurs, Bryant called Lakers trainer Gary Vitti during halftime and asked to speak with Gasol.

The Lakers (44-37) will need to make the playoffs if they want to see Steve Nash back in the lineup. "He's close," said Coach Mike D'Antoni after the team's final-regular-season shoot-around on Wednesday.  "He's not ready today.  We'll see on Sunday or Saturday, if we can get that far. " Nash will miss his eighth consecutive game with hip and hamstring soreness as the Lakers play a deciding game against the Houston Rockets (45-36) on Wednesday night.  The veteran guard received an epidural injection Tuesday to help alleviate nerve irritation related to his hip and back.

The Lakers' playoff fate is in their own hands? As far as former Houston guard Kenny Smith is concerned, the Rockets will be the ones in control Wednesday night when they visit Staples Center to play the Lakers in the regular-season finale for both teams. If Houston comes to play, Smith said, it wins. But if the Rockets opt to sit players or give a half-hearted effort in hopes of securing a first-round matchup against Oklahoma City, Smith said, the Lakers will come out on top. “It depends on how they're taking it because they are a better team,” Smith, now an analyst for TNT, said of the Rockets in an interview with The Times.

Kobe Bryant was right about his guarantee. The Lakers made the playoffs. He didn't need to be present to see it happen on the last day of the regular season. Then the Lakers one-upped him, turning their good start to Wednesday evening into a better one, the equivalent of improving their hand in Texas hold 'em. The Lakers beat the Houston Rockets in overtime, 99-95, earned a first-round playoff series against San Antonio and managed to avoid top-seeded Oklahoma City, a horrible matchup for almost every Western Conference team, especially them.

Tracy McGrady has never won an NBA playoff series, despite leading the league in scoring twice during a pro career that started back in 1997. But even though he's been out of the league completely this season, McGrady will get another chance to pursue that elusive second-round postseason appearance. San Antonio has signed the 33-year-old forward to add depth and experience for what they hope will be a deep playoff run. The Spurs will finish second in the Western Conference and are 58-23 heading into Wednesday's regular-season finale against Minnesota.

  Times Lakers writer Mike Bresnahan and NBA editor Barry Stavro got together Wednesday morning to discuss the final day of the NBA's regular season. They also answered viewer questions. You can watch a replay of the discussion above.   The Clippers are in the playoffs, so most eyes will be on the Lakers tonight, as they take on the Houston Rockets with a playoff spot on the line. Win, and the Lakers are in; lose, they might be out, depending on the outcome of the Utah-Memphis game.

All the playoff combinations and permutations can be reduced to one statement: If the Lakers beat Houston on Wednesday, they finish seventh in the Western Conference. "I know my math," Pau Gasol said Tuesday. It makes total sense, given the way the Lakers' season has tumbled and unfolded, lurched and lolled, only to flip upward in the final week. The Lakers, winners of four consecutive games, want to beat Houston for numerous reasons. Momentum, obviously, could be carried into the postseason, but the Lakers would also match up better against San Antonio than top-seeded Oklahoma City in the first round.

The playoff picture shifted on Monday night as the Houston Rockets (45-36) lost on the road in Phoenix to the Suns. The idle Lakers (44-37) have one game remaining - against the same Rockets who are now just one game ahead.  By virtue of a better conference record, a Lakers' victory would secure the seventh seed in the Western Conference. There's still no guarantee the Lakers even make the playoffs.  If they lose to the Rockets on Wednesday, coupled with a Utah Jazz victory in Memphis against the Grizzlies, the Lakers will finish in ninth place.

The Lakers have redefined unpredictability this season, touching too many lows to count despite an egregiously large $100-million payroll. But a basketball break bounced in their direction Monday, the Houston Rockets somehow losing to Phoenix, meaning the Lakers would finish seventh in the Western Conference if they beat the Rockets on Wednesday at Staples Center. The Lakers (44-37) trail Houston by a game but can even up the head-to-head tiebreaker at 2-2 with a victory Wednesday and simultaneously win the next tiebreaker because of a better conference mark.