Atlanta won Monday night at Oklahoma City without Howard when Paul Millsap had 30 points and 11 boards. Coach Mike Budenholzer used a three-guard lineup with Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore and Kyle Korver. Thabo Sefolosha started at forward.

The Hawks have won four of six before facing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

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Houston’s star center was angry and searching for a way to lead the Rockets after an ugly loss to Golden State has them facing a deficit in the Western Conference finals that no NBA team has ever overcome.

”There’s a lot of words I could say about tonight,” Howard said. ”But I’ve got to keep my teammates together. We can’t fold. We can’t quit because we’re down. It’s easy just to give up and say: `They’re playing great’ … but we ain’t going out like that.”

After Houston played well in two close losses to Golden State on the road, coach Kevin McHale expected a lot from the Rockets in Game 3 at home Saturday night.

Instead the Rockets fell in a gigantic hole early and couldn’t recover in a 115-80 loss that put the Warriors up 3-0 in the series.

”I was surprised that we didn’t come out with more,” he said. ”I thought we would come out with a little more juice.”

McHale was disappointed that his team was outrebounded 60-39 and that Golden State outscored the Rockets 58-42 in the paint.

”When we get beat in the boards and in the paint we seldom win against anybody,” McHale said.

Stephen Curry scored 40 points to lead the Warriors.

The Warriors won the first two games by just five points combined. There would be no such drama in this one, with Curry leading them to a 26-point advantage in the second quarter.

Now the baby-faced MVP has Golden State just one victory away from its first trip to the NBA Finals since winning the 1975 title. Game 4 is Monday night in Houston.

Curry was unstoppable, making seven 3-pointers to break the NBA record for most 3s in the playoffs in a season with 64.

MVP runner-up James Harden finished with 17 points behind 10-of-11 free-throw shooting, but made just 3 of 16 shots as the Rockets dropped three straight for the first time all season.

”We were too relaxed. We were too comfortable,” Harden said. ”Trying to come back, trying to fight. The fight wasn’t enough.”

Howard, who played despite a knee injury suffered in Game 1, had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Houston rebounded from a 3-1 deficit in the conference semifinals to beat the Clippers and move on. No team in NBA history has won a series after falling behind 3-0.

”We just can’t quit on each other,” Howard said. ”We’ve come too far. We’ve been through too many battles to just allow it to end like tonight … we’ve just got to man up.”

Draymond Green and Klay Thompson added 17 points apiece for the Warriors.

Curry had 37 points after three quarters and went to the bench for good with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining after his seventh 3-pointer made it 103-73. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.

The Rockets have rebounded from double-digit deficits in three of their eight wins this postseason, but this time they fell into a hole way too big to overcome. Especially when Harden’s shots weren’t falling.

The Warriors were in control of this one from the start and were up by 12 at the end of the first. But things got out of hand quickly when Curry heated up.

A pair of free throws by Harden cut the lead to nine points with about 6 minutes left in the quarter when Curry took over. He scored the next six points as part of a 16-5 run where he scored all but two of the Warriors points to push the lead to 54-34.

Curry broke the record for 3s in the playoffs on a long one from the top of the key that put Golden State up 49-32 about 4 1/2 minutes before halftime. Reggie Miller set the previous mark of 58 in 2000.

He did a little bit of everything in that span. There was the finger roll layup, a bank shot, seven free throws and even a pair of rebounds to get Golden State rolling.

Houston couldn’t do anything right on either end of the court for most of the second quarter, and made just one field goal and missed six shots in the six minutes before halftime.

The Warriors led by 25 at halftime and Houston opened the third quarter strong, using a 13-6 spurt to get within 68-50. Thompson made a free throw after that before Curry took control once again, scoring the next five points, including a 3-pointer under heavy pressure, to push it to 75-50 midway through the third quarter.

Curry pumped his fist and screamed to no one in particular as several of his teammates raised three fingers in the air.

He wrapped up the third quarter in much the same way, scoring Golden State’s last five points, capped by a 3-pointer to make it 92-61 entering the fourth quarter.

Howard was the only positive for the Rockets in the first half and he had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Harden made just one of eight shots in the first half, but had eight points after making all six of his free throws.

Golden State led 62-37 at halftime.

The Warriors led 30-18 at the end of the first quarter behind 10 points from Andrew Bogut.

HOWARD’S WORK

Howard had his 11th double-double this postseason, which is second this postseason to the 12 Blake Griffin had. Howard is averaging 14 rebounds a game in the postseason to lead the NBA.

TIP-INS

Rockets: Houston’s 18 points in the first quarter and 37 points at halftime were playoff lows. … Harden leads the NBA this postseason by making at least 10 free throws in six games.

Warriors: Bogut finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. … Green had 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double this postseason.

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Howard was listed as questionable, and after a 15-minute workout before the game, the team decided he would participate.

How effective Howard will be is a question considering his health and the fact that he will wear a heavy brace on the knee.

Howard suffered a Grade 1 sprain to his knee in the first quarter of Tuesday’s Game 1 loss to the Warriors. Howard left the game to test the knee and was taken out for good in the fourth quarter. He finished with seven points and 13 rebounds in 26 minutes.

Team medical officials have told Howard he would need seven to 10 days to recover but that it would be up to him if he could withstand the pain.

“I want to be out there,” Howard said, “but the most important thing is that I’m out there for the whole series.”

Howard looked good during a walk-through Thursday morning, dunking, moving laterally and attempting post moves.

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Bryant scored a season-high 47 points and carried the Los Angeles Lakers closer to a playoff berth with a 113-106 victory over the short-handed but tenacious Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

The Lakers moved a full game up on the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“We’ve got no breathing room at all,” Bryant said. “I’m still on edge. We’ve got to win three more games and we’re in.”

Portland, missing the playoffs for the second straight season, has lost nine straight, the most since an 11-game skid in the 2005-06 season. Rookie Damian Lillard led the Blazers with a career-high 38 points.

Pau Gasol had 23 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, while Dwight Howard added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers. Bryant was 18 of 18 from the free throw line and played the entire game, determined to pull out a win after trailing early.

“What he (Bryant) is doing is phenomenal. He’s determined to get us in the playoffs,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “That’s what happens when you open your mouth and guarantee that we’ll get in the playoffs.”

Bryant vowed in late February that his team would make it to the postseason. The Lakers wrap up the regular season at home with games against playoff-bound Golden State, San Antonio and Houston.

Gasol knotted the game at 96 with a layup and a jumper with 7:09 left. After Lillard’s 15-footer, Gasol added another jumper to tie it again. His layup gave the Lakers a 102-100 edge before Bryant hit a pair of free throws and added a 23-foot jump shot with 4:09 left to make it 106-100.

Howard’s alley-oop dunk from Gasol with 53 seconds left made it 110-104 and all but sealed it.

For much of the game, it seemed like Bryant the veteran against Lillard the upstart rookie.

“He’s spectacular … really fantastic,” Bryant said of the Blazers’ five-time rookie of the month. “A lot of players get hot, but he’s got the moves, patience, intelligence, the balance on his jumpers. He’s the real deal.”

Lillard has grown up admiring Bryant.

“I got to guard him and he got to guard me,” Lillard said. “I enjoyed the challenge.”

The deck was stacked from the start against the Blazers, who started four rookies for the first time in the team’s history.

Portland was without starters Wesley Matthews (ankle), J.J. Hickson (back) and Nicolas Batum (right shoulder). As a result, two-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge was the only veteran starting with rookie forward Victor Claver, guards Lillard and Will Barton, and center Meyers Leonard.

Matthews injured his right ankle in Portland’s 96-91 loss to Dallas on Sunday, while Batum was missing his fourth straight game with a sore shoulder. Hickson says he’s been dealing with a painful lower back for the past several games.

But the rookies got off to an astonishingly fast start, going up 17-8 on Lillard’s fadeaway jumper. Lillard banked in a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 22-12 and the Blazers made eight of their first nine shots from the field.

He hit another 3 to make it 35-25 and the Blazers went on to lead 41-33 at the end of the first, their most points in the opening quarter this season.

The Lakers chipped away at the lead and Bryant’s long jumper on the baseline closed Los Angeles to 50-48.

The Blazers led 69-61 at the break, but the Lakers opened the second half with a 10-0 run capped by Howard’s hook shot to pull ahead 71-69, their first lead of the game. Howard’s layup extended the lead to 78-71.

The Blazers were hurt when Claver rolled his ankle late in the third quarter and retreated to the locker room, but they stayed on the Lakers’ heels, coming within 86-85 on Eric Maynor’s running jumper and pulling in front on Luke Babbitt’s 3 pointer.

Maynor’s fadeaway put Portland up 95-90.

“It was a very good effort by our team, but unfortunately we couldn’t pull it out,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “A couple of plays down the stretch could have gone either way, a couple of shots could have gone either way. For the most part, I thought it was a well-played game against a team that’s pretty hungry to make the playoffs.”

Game notes

Combined with the Lakers’ 104-96 victory over New Orleans on Tuesday night, it was the first time this season the Lakers had won both games of a back-to-back. … Lillard was awarded the NBA’s Community Assist award for March because of his anti-bullying campaign. He is the fourth rookie to win the honor, and first since Atlanta’s Al Horford in 2008. More than 5,000 fans have signed a pledge to help end bullying as part of Lillard’s “Respect” program. … Lillard became second Portland rookie to go over 500 assists. Kelvin Ransey had 555 in the 1980-81 season. … The Blazers had won three straight and 12 of their last 14 against the Lakers at the Rose Garden.

The post Kobe Bryant scores 47 points as Lakers stay in playoff position appeared first on IdealCapper.

Kobe meant no offense to Shaq, his longtime teammate and former rival. He’s just busy doing everything and playing nearly every minute to keep the Lakers in the playoff race.

Bryant had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in his 19th career triple-double, and the Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 101-81 on Tuesday night in a key game for two teams struggling to get into the Western Conference postseason picture.

With former coach Phil Jackson in attendance for O’Neal’s honors, Bryant put on a virtuoso performance while playing more than 47 minutes. Bryant has rested for just 79 seconds in the past two games, but he’s keeping the Lakers afloat during the latest round of injuries and setbacks in their roller-coaster season.

“I wish I could (have seen it), but this is a huge game for us,” Bryant said of the ceremony for O’Neal, his teammate on three championship teams. “I had to stay back here and get ready for the second half. We talked when I came in at halftime. We stopped and chopped it up for a couple of minutes.”

O’Neal liked what he saw from his courtside seat next to his mother. With the win, Los Angeles moved back into an eighth-place tie in the West with the Utah Jazz (39-36), who hold the tiebreaker edge on the Lakers.

Dwight Howard had 24 points and 12 rebounds while hitting seven fourth-quarter free throws for the Lakers (39-36), who had lost four of six before jumping to a big early lead on Dallas and hanging on to it throughout the second half.

“I’m just happy we played the right way tonight, especially on the defensive end,” Howard said.

Bryant did much of the heavy lifting, but the rest of the Lakers also played well without injured starters Steve Nash and Metta World Peace. Pau Gasol had 14 points and 10 rebounds while guarding Dirk Nowitzki, and Earl Clark contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds while blocking a career-high five shots in a stellar defensive game off the bench.

“We’re desperate, and the players know it,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I didn’t think we had a great game offensively. We missed a lot of easy shots, didn’t get hot, but we were playing so well defensively that we won it that way.”

Dallas (36-38) still has a game in hand on the Lakers and Jazz, but the Mavs’ task just got tougher. Chris Kaman scored 14 points and Nowitzki had just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting for the Mavericks, who had won four of five.

“I thought overall we didn’t play well enough,” Nowitzki said. “They used their length on our scorers. Coming into this building, I think the only way we beat them is if we shoot well from the floor. I didn’t think we were shooting the ball well enough to steal one here.”

After trailing for most of the night, Dallas was down by just seven points when the Mavs began intentionally fouling Howard. Hack-a-Dwight backfired miserably, with Howard going a respectable 7-for-12 while the Lakers made a decisive 16-1 run, holding the Mavericks to just one field goal in the final 4 1/2 minutes.

“It is a hit. It is a game we needed,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “I think everyone is frustrated. I mean, Dirk understands what this stage is about. We have some inexperienced guys that haven’t been here, so this is a valuable learning experience for them, but it has a price.”

Although the Lakers aren’t at full strength, at least they can get some rest at home. After a road-heavy March schedule, the Lakers must leave Los Angeles just once more in the regular season while playing six of their last eight on their home court.

The Lakers retired O’Neal’s No. 34 jersey at halftime, with Lakers luminaries including Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Jamaal Wilkes assembling for the ceremony. The Staples Center crowd loved Shaq, but the fans adored former Jackson, who attended what was likely his first game since walking away from the team in 2011.

Jackson was serenaded with multiple chants of “We want Phil!” during his brief remarks to the crowd, echoing the same chants that filled Staples Center late last year when the Lakers flirted with bringing back the 11-time NBA champion coach before unexpectedly hiring D’Antoni to replace Mike Brown.

The Lakers made an 18-6 run for a 16-point lead late in the first half led by Bryant, who put on a show. After banking in a tremendously difficult 16-footer while getting fouled, he spun and appeared to look directly at Jackson, whose smile didn’t change.

Los Angeles’ 15-point halftime lead dwindled to five before Clark led another rally, and Bryant kept the Lakers ahead in the fourth quarter before Dallas resorted to purposely fouling Howard.

Game notes

Nash is hopeful he’ll return Friday after a bit more rest for his injured hip, while World Peace won’t be back any time soon from surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee. … Nowitzki got a technical foul for arguing with 4:04 to play while Dallas trailed by seven points.

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“I’m not criticizing anybody, but it’s part of the rules that’s just not great,” D’Antoni said before the Lakers played the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. “We’re an entertainment business. That’s not entertaining for anybody.”

The Lakers beat the Magic 106-97 with Howard tying his own all-time NBA record for free throw attempts in a game, going 25 of 39 from the line.

After the game, D’Antoni said Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn’s tactic created an inferior product for the paying customers in the seats.

“I hate it for the fans,” D’Antoni said.”They can come to practice for free and watch them shoot 40-50 foul shots. They don’t even have to pay for tickets. I’ll invite them all.”

It wasn’t the first time Vaughn used the game plan. He employed it when the Magic beat the Lakers 113-103 at Staples Center on Dec. 2, and Howard went 9 of 21 from the line.

“You try to win, I understand that, coaches got to do what they do, but it might be something that you can look at down the road,” D’Antoni said. “Especially [because] I’ve got non-shooters, I’d vote for [banning] it. If I had shooters, I wouldn’t vote for it. That’s how we work as coaches.”

Howard said he’s no big fan of the strategy but understands why it’s used.

“It is boring, it’s not a fun way to play and it’s not fun for the fans to watch, but for the other team they’re trying to win,” Howard said Wednesday night. “We can’t get upset with it. I don’t want to just have to take the ball out as soon as I step inbounds, they foul me. That’s not fun, but guys will do what they got to do to win.”

Howard believes it’s not the way the game was intended to be played.

“Nobody wants to play where it’s just fouls repeatedly, but like I said, that’s another team’s strategy,” Howard said. “I don’t think we’ll ever do that here on our team.”

The strategy is nothing new to D’Antoni. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich used it against Shaquille O’Neal when he was the center on D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2008 playoffs.

“Shaq would try to run through people, which is kind of different,” D’Antoni said. “He punished the guy. I felt sorry for the guy who had to go give the foul because he tried to hunt him down and kill him.”

The NBA Coach of the Year in 2004-05 doesn’t feel right having his teams play that way.

“I’ve tried it; it’s just kind of like I don’t like it,” D’Antoni said. “If I can’t beat them, I don’t want to [do that]. But, I understand why you would do it.”

The NBA’s 10-man competition committee would have to review D’Antoni’s claim in order for the league to make a change to the rules to prevent intentional foul situations from continuing in the future. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is one of four GMs on the committee along with two owners, three head coaches and one representative from the National Basketball Players Association.

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“I’m a big thinker,” Howard said during a wide-ranging, candid interview after the Los Angeles Lakers practiced Saturday afternoon. “So I just stayed in the hotel and thought about the first half of the season and how I could do better for our team.

“And I just told myself, ‘I’m going to commit myself to being better for the second half of the season.’ ”

That meant cutting sugar completely out of his diet so he could get into the kind of shape he needed to be in to be the Lakers’ defensive anchor and run coach Mike D’Antoni’s pick-and-roll sets.

That meant acknowledging that he was trying to be somebody he wasn’t the first half of the season.

And, yes, it meant admitting to himself that playing alongside the hard-driving Kobe Bryant was something that he needed both personally and professionally.

“It’s going to make me a better man and a better player from watching Kobe,” Howard said.

Playing in Los Angeles, for a franchise with expectations as high as the Lakers, is “a lot different,” Howard said.

“Besides just the expectations,” he said. “In games, I mess up and there’s somebody in the crowd saying something and I’m ready to snap at ’em. That’s not what we’re supposed to do.

“But you look at a guy like Kobe and he doesn’t care about nothing but going out there and playing hard. That’s a lesson a lot of us have to learn — especially young guys.”

Howard said he and Bryant always have had a good relationship, but it’s deepened this season, particularly since the All-Star break.

“I told him [Bryant]: ‘I’m afraid to miss. When I get out there, I don’t want to miss, and I end up missing.’ And he was like: ‘You know what? Shoot 1,000 jumpshots a day. You’re going to miss a lot of those shots. But that’s OK. Because you’re teaching yourself it’s OK to miss.’

“Now I see it. He gets out there and he might miss a couple 3s, but then he’ll make nine in a row. You see that and it just kind of gives you more inspiration.”

Howard and Bryant are coming off their best two games as Lakers, with the latter becoming the first Laker since Jerry West in 1970 to post back-to-back 40-point, 10-assist games in wins against New Orleans and Toronto, respectively. Howard has dominated defensively while averaging 22 points, 14 rebounds and 4.5 blocks.

In nine games since the All-Star break, Howard is averaging 15.4 points, 14.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks a game. Moreover, his energy and attitude seem markedly different.

“He jumped three or four times after one ball,” D’Antoni said of Howard’s defensive performance Friday night, when he blocked five shots and intimidated several Raptors. “His conditioning didn’t allow him to do that [before].

“I think he was harshly judged because he wasn’t 100 percent. There’s all kind of little factors, but the further away he gets away from the [back] operation, the better he will be.”

Whatever the case, Los Angeles (32-31) will take it. With Utah’s loss Saturday night to the Knicks, the Lakers are now tied with the Jazz for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth.

“When I first [came to L.A.], I wanted to come here and not talk to anybody and act completely different,” Howard said. “But that’s not who I am. I’ve never been that way. I shouldn’t ever shut myself off to the world. I don’t think that’s good for the team or for me and what I want to accomplish in life.

“I thought about it and said, ‘No, I can’t change. I’ve got to mature in certain areas,’ and I think I have. But I can’t change who I am.”

When did that change take place?

“At the All-Star break,” Howard said. “I just thought about what we’re trying to accomplish as a team and I really want to win a championship. That’s the reason why I’m in LA.”

The post Dwight Howard: I changed at break appeared first on IdealCapper.

For a .500 team, the Lakers are looking pretty good lately. Bryant is the biggest reason why.

Bryant scored 11 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and hit the go-ahead layup with 9 seconds left, leading the Lakers back to .500 for the first time in more than two months with a 99-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.

Steve Blake stole Smith’s final pass in the waning seconds for the Lakers (30-30), who blew a 16-point lead in the second half before Bryant scored their last six points.

After Bryant scored the Lakers’ final basket while driving directly at Smith, Blake swiped Smith’s desperation pass from underneath Los Angeles’ basket. Bryant threw the ball high in the air to run out the clock on Los Angeles’ seventh straight home victory over the Hawks since 2006.

“I just had to attack,” Bryant said. “I wanted to attack and just go right at them. Take the game to them. Be aggressive. Be physical. And it worked out.”

Steve Nash had 15 points and 10 assists, while Dwight Howard added 11 points and 15 rebounds in the Lakers’ 13th win in 18 games. Los Angeles hung on for a quality win over the Hawks, a near-certain playoff team with ample motivation to knock off the high-profile Lakers.

Kobe wouldn’t allow it, making one big play after another down the stretch. Afterward, he repeatedly compared himself to a fine wine — only getting better with age.

“It was more of a message to my team here, to kind of have that will, that hunger, to push through it by any means necessary,” he said. “It’s just a challenge. I wouldn’t even really categorize it as fun. The fun comes in the challenge, and we’re up for it.”

The Lakers hadn’t been at .500 since Dec. 28, when they followed a win over Portland with six consecutive losses. They’ve spent the past six weeks digging themselves out of the latest hole in their rut-filled season, culminating in a lengthy stretch of recent solid play despite the absence of injured 7-footer Pau Gasol.

If the Lakers manage to upset Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, they would have their first winning record since Nov. 20, when they beat Brooklyn in coach Mike D’Antoni’s debut to go 6-5.

Al Horford scored 24 points and Smith had 19 for the Hawks, who had won four straight before consecutive road losses to the Suns and Lakers. Atlanta hasn’t beaten the Lakers anywhere since March 31, 2010.

Smith relished his matchup with Bryant, even if he got the short end of it.

“He’s been doing it for a long time, so you have to respect what he brings to the table,” Smith said. “He’s an assassin. He wants that moment. But from a defensive standpoint, I love taking a challenge like that and try to step up and try to make it tough for him. It was kind of like a tug-of-war match. We were going back and forth, and they made one more play than we did to win the game. I live for moments like this.”

Bryant put the Lakers up 96-95 with 2:18 to play on that ferocious dunk. After turnovers by both teams, Jeff Teague reclaimed the lead for Atlanta with 45 seconds left on a floating layup in traffic.

After Bryant hit two free throws, Horford put the Hawks back ahead with a dunk on a backdoor pass from Smith with 26.7 seconds left. But Bryant drove around Horford and right into Smith at the rim, willing the ball over his defense.

“There’s a reason why he’s the best player in the game,” Horford said of Bryant. “He did what he usually does, and we didn’t do a good enough job on him. It’s disappointing. We thought we worked hard and put ourselves in a position to win. We just had too many mistakes down the stretch.”

Devin Harris scored 12 of his 16 points in a three-minute spree late in the third quarter while Atlanta erased Los Angeles’ big lead.

Game notes

The Hawks finish their trip Monday night in Denver. … Atlanta coach Larry Drew was able to attend his son’s final UCLA home game on Saturday thanks to the fortunate coincidence in the Hawks’ schedule. Drew considers Los Angeles home after playing for the Clippers and Lakers, followed by a lengthy stint as a Lakers assistant coach in the 1990s prior to Phil Jackson’s arrival. … Novak Djokovic visited the Lakers’ locker room with fellow tennis player Justin Gimelstob before the game. One day after winning the Dubai Championships halfway around the globe, Djokovic spoke at length with Howard, who claims he won a school tennis tournament as a kid.

The post Kobe Bryant scores 34 points as Lakers reach .500 mark appeared first on IdealCapper.

The Lakers heard Cuban’s advice and didn’t appreciate it.

“We’re aware of Mark Cuban’s comments and feel they are inappropriate,” Lakers spokesman John Black said in a statement. “As to the issue itself, we will not comment publicly on the amnesty issue as it relates to any of our players.”

The Lakers will not file a formal complaint to the NBA about Cuban’s comments, but the league could choose to fine the Mavs’ owner after reviewing the interview.

Bryant had little reaction when asked about it before Friday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I’ll bet he did,” Bryant said with a chuckle when asked if he’d heard what Cuban said.

Cuban got himself into some hot water during an appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM’s “Ben and Skin Show” when the topic of the Lakers came up.

“If you look at their payroll, even if Dwight (Howard) comes back, you’ve got to ask the question: Should they amnesty Kobe?” Cuban said. “You just don’t know, right? It’s the same reason I wouldn’t get rid of Dirk (Nowitzki). I’ll take a hit for a season rather than get rid of Dirk. That’s just it. I’ve made that commitment to him over the years, and he’s returned that commitment. Maybe that’s selfish, but that’s just the way it is.

“So I’m just saying that hypothetically. When I say amnesty Kobe, I don’t think they’d do it, but they’ve got some choices to make. Now, they’re in a big market, but they’re still limited. The Knicks, the same thing. Boston, same thing.”

Bryant is on the books for a league-high $30.45 million salary next season, the last year of his contract.

The Lakers’ payroll is slightly more than $100 million this season and will probably be in that same range next season if Howard re-signs in the offseason.

This is the last season of a dollar-for-dollar penalty for teams over the luxury tax limit ($70.307 million this season). Beginning next season, the luxury tax starts at $1.50 per dollar and escalates for every $5 million a team is over.

If the Lakers are $30 million over, their luxury tax bill would be a whopping $85 million next season.

If L.A. trims the payroll down to $20 million over the tax, the Lakers still would get hit with a $45 million bill. And they’d be subject to the even heavier repeater rate in 2014-15, although Steve Nash’s $9.7 million salary is the only contract on the Lakers’ books for that year right now.

Next season is the Lakers’ last chance to amnesty a player, and Bryant is one of four players the Lakers can do it to. The others are Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace and Steve Blake. If the Lakers waive any one of those players this summer, they would not have to pay luxury taxes on their salaries, but they would still have to pay that player’s salary.

The Lakers will play the Mavericks in Dallas on Sunday.

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“That’s great,” Nash said on Friday. “You love it when your best player has that confidence and that challenge. In a way, he’s put it out for us to go get now.”

Bryant said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that he is certain the struggling Lakers will make the playoffs. The 15-time All-Star also claimed he has “no fear” of any potential postseason opponent in the competitive Western Conference.

“It’s not a question of if we make the playoffs. We will,” Bryant told Sports Illustrated. “And when we get there, I have no fear of anyone — Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver … whoever. I have zero nervousness about that.”

When Nash was asked if he would like to offer a similar guarantee, he laughed.

“Yeah, I guarantee it, too,” Nash said with smile. “What does it mean? Everyone guarantees something at some stage and everyone forgets. I feel the whole guarantee thing is … I don’t know. If I went and guaranteed it would you guys care?”

D’Antoni said he wasn’t big on guarantees but didn’t mind Bryant making one, given the role he will play in making it a reality.

“He has a lot to say about it, so that’s good,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t mind as long as we back it up. I don’t mind at all. I think you have to have that mindset and I think everybody does. I’m not a guarantee kind of guy but I’ll let him do the talking since he’s got to do the walking. Kobe’s good enough. I’m with him all the way.”

Howard echoed Bryant’s sentiments in believing the Lakers will be able to turn around their season and make the playoffs.

“I’m not going to sit up here and say, ‘No, we’re not going to make it,’ ” Howard said. “We got to have faith and if we don’t, we’re not going to make it but I believe that we’re going to turn this around and we’re going to be great.”

The Lakers (26-29) have won six of their last nine games, including Wednesday’s 113-99 victory over the Boston Celtics. Despite the recent hot streak, Los Angeles trails the Houston Rockets by 3½ games for the eighth spot in the conference standings.

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak thought Bryant’s confidence was “great,” but recognized it would be an uphill climb.

“We dug a hole for ourselves. And we’re going to need some help from teams that are in front of us. And we’re going to have to play really good basketball ourselves,” Kupchak said in an interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. “But if we do get into the playoffs, that does mean that we’re playing good basketball. And at that point, I’m very comfortable in a seven-game series with anybody, even if we get in at number eight. I love Kobe’s confidence and his vision for this team for the next three or four months.

“And that’s what you need from one of your star players and one of your leaders, you’ve got to have someone that believes and I think that’s great.”

Bryant, the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer at 26.6 points per game, cited a loss earlier this month to the Miami Heat as one of the sources of his confidence.

The Lakers dropped a 107-97 decision in Miami on Feb. 10 to conclude a seven-game road trip.

Despite the loss, Bryant told Sports Illustrated the Lakers showed positive signs in the contest.

“We will make the playoffs,” he said. “And we will compete. And part of the reason I have that confidence is the Miami game. We had control of the game. That was no fluke. We were playing very, very well. We were reading the defense, making the extra pass.

“OK, they have two great players [LeBron James and Dwyane Wade] who scored eight straight buckets and took control of the game. But we were right there. We can do it.”

At Thursday’s memorial service for Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died on Monday, Bryant also encouraged his teammates to look at the players and coaches in the room and make the most of this season in the memory of Buss.

“It would be great if we could use that as motivation,” Nash said. “I’d like to think that regardless of Dr. Buss passing that we’d have the toughness to find it in ourselves to rally. It’s been a tough year obviously, and trying, but we’ve made some progress and we have to continue to make progress the rest of the way. It would be a beautiful thing to do it for Dr. Buss.”

Howard, who had visited Buss in the hospital after being traded to the Lakers, said he and most of his teammates already had that in mind before Bryant’s speech.

“I think a lot of guys already felt that way anyway,” Howard said. “So it wasn’t nothing new. We’ve all been talking about doing something special and changing what’s been going on here.”

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