Bryant has reached the 50-point plateau 21 times in his career.

Seattle coach Bob Hill smiled and said the Sonics "stressed" defending Bryant for the entire game, and "forced him to score 50 points."

"He was brilliant. He was just determined. He's special," Hill said.

The Lakers, in the habit lately of blowing late leads, lost all but one point of their once-substantial margin against the Sonics. Seattle, behind by 19 points in the first half, narrowed the margin to 87-86 midway through the final quarter. But Bryant then scored eight points as Los Angeles opened a 99-89 lead with three minutes remaining.

The only other Lakers to finish in double figures were Lamar Odom, with 14 points, and Maurice Evans, with 10.

Rashard Lewis scored 24 for Seattle, Chris Wilcox had 20 and Mike Wilks had a career-high 22.

The Los Angeles Clippers' 105-100 loss to Sacramento on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center meant the Lakers had only to win one of their remaining two games to make the postseason. The Clippers and Golden State Warriors are still contending for the final Western Conference playoff berth. The Lakers have the tiebreaker over both of those teams.

Los Angeles center Kwame Brown, who sat out the past six games with a sprained left ankle and has missed 41 games because of injuries this season, played 27 minutes and scored three points.

Seattle never led and was down 46-27 in the second quarter before beginning to chip away at the lead. Although Bryant scored 18 points in the third quarter, Lewis' 12 helped keep Seattle within striking distance at 81-74 heading into the fourth.

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