LOS ANGELES — For the Los Angeles Lakers, it was a game of major importance.

To the Los Angeles Clippers, it was anything but crucial.

That's typical of late-season matchups between the crosstown rivals, but this was different than the norm since the Clippers are the ones with the playoff berth locked up and the Lakers are still battling to get there.

That's not how it usually goes.

Kobe Bryant scored 17 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter, Lamar Odom had 23 points and 15 rebounds, and the Lakers took a large step toward qualifying for the postseason by beating the Clippers, 100-83, last night.

"We are a physical team and we got after them a little bit," Bryant said. "We spaced the floor extremely well and executed our offense pretty well. Defensively we did a good job being active and getting our hands on loose balls."

Luke Walton added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers (41-37), who outscored the Clippers 20-6 to finish the game in snapping a two-game losing streak and winning for the seventh time in 10 games.

Bryant played all but 39 seconds despite a sore left calf.

"I couldn't even run this morning," said Bryant, who was accidentally kicked near the end of a 107-96 loss at Phoenix on Friday night. "They did a lot of therapy on me."

Bryant shot 14 of 27 and also had five rebounds and five assists. He had scored 40 or more points in his previous four games.

The Lakers are tied for seventh place with Sacramento in the Western Conference — three games ahead of Utah and New Orleans, who are tied for ninth. The top eight teams advance to the playoffs.

"We needed this game, so I just wanted to stay aggressive around the boards, find the basket, get some easy shots and go to the free-throw line," Odom said.

Elton Brand had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Sam Cassell also scored 24 for the Clippers (44-32), who clinched the seventh playoff berth in the 36-year history of the franchise Saturday night when New Orleans lost at Dallas.

"If we go into the playoffs like this, we're going to be one and done," coach Mike Dunleavy said. "We were careless — the turnovers that we made translated into easy layups and scores for them. In the fourth quarter, turnovers and some of our shot selection just wasn't very good."

The Clippers will play in the postseason for the first time in nine years and just the fourth time since 1976, when they were the Buffalo Braves.