Bryant made 28 in Lakers win

The main players in the Lakers squad answered when the team needed them. Kobe Bryant scored 28 points and Kwame Brown added a season-high 21 with 12 rebounds for Los Angeles, who posted an 87-80 win over the Sacramento Kings in a pivotal Western Conference battle.

Winning for just the third time in seven matches, the Lakers (36-34) earned a split of the season series and moved one game ahead of the Kings (34-34) into seventh place in the Western Conference.

"We're playing good basketball," Bryant noticed. He averaged 36.3 points in four meetings against the Kings this season. "We feel like we can carry it over into the playoffs."

In the other hand, Ron Artest paced Sacramento with 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Kings have lost three of their last four overall. Bonzi Wells came off the bench to score 15 points and grab nine rebounds.

The Lakers led by as many as 20 points in the contest and never trailed.

"It was a big win for us," said LA head coach Phil Jackson. "We caused a lot of turnovers and stepped up the tempo knowing they played last night."

Led by Bryant's 10 first-quarter points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field, the Lakers jumped out to a 30-14 lead after the opening frame. The most important part of the period was Los Angeles opening the contest on a 15-5 run.

The Kings outscored the Lakers 26-23 in the second stanza, but still trailed 53-40 at the break.

Bryant had 15 at halftime, while Brown added 11 points and six rebounds.

It's fair to say that the second half was more of the same as the Lakers continued to run in front.

LA opened the third period on an 8-2 run to take a 61-42 lead. The Lakers went on to outscore the Kings 19-18 in the quarter to take a 72-58 lead into the final frame.

As we saw in our screens, in the fourth quarter, the Kings outscored the Lakers 22-15 and managed to get within five points late, but it was not enough as Los Angeles held on.

Lakers make no sense

Los Angeles Lakers can beat the best on any given day — Detroit, San Antonio, Miami — and lose to any mid-level squad, no matter their record or reasoning, regardless of the ensuing ridicule that awaits from fans after another clumsy loss.

You can get to that conclusion after watching the Seattle SuperSonics, an underwhelming group that had been 9-22 on the road, beat the Lakers, 120-113, killing any momentum brought home on the charter flight after Friday's victory in San Antonio.

It's fair to say that the defense was kind enough to allow seven SuperSonics to top their season scoring averages, and the Laker frontcourt took a hit as well, Chris Mihm leaving late in the match after sustaining a severely sprained right ankle. X-rays were negative, but he will be sidelined indefinitely, quite possibly a few weeks, according to a Laker official.

There were other troubles, other holes left unpatched as the Lakers failed to gain Western Conference ground on sixth-place Memphis.

In fact, Kobe Bryant was out-fenced by old rival Ray Allen, scoring only 22 points in an eight-for-29 shooting effort. He was irascible and angry during the game, dressed quickly when it was over and left without speaking to reporters for the first time this season.

In the final minute, kobe missed an off-balance three-point attempt on an inbounds play and, after tracking the rebound, missed an open three-pointer from the right side, unable to get the Lakers closer than 119-113.

Six seconds later, another Bryant three-point attempt missed everything but the bottom of the backboard.

In a sad move, Mihm writhed on the court after appearing to come down on Rashard Lewis' foot with 48 seconds to play. Mihm was helped into the locker room by Ronny Turiaf and Andrew Bynum.

A Laker official later compared the severity of the injury to the sprained ankle that cost Bryant a month last season.

Kobe Bryant scored 16,000 points

He is used to achieving record numbers. And he did it again: Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to score 16,000 points, finishing with 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers' 106-94 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

In fact, Chris Mihm added 16 points, but Bryant's stellar play with a sinus infection was just about the only beautiful thing in the Lakers' third straight victory over the Warriors. Bryant scored 40 points for the 16th time this season while conserving his energy and playing with thoughtful caution.

"I've played sick before," Bryant admitted, recalling his 2002 playoff performance against the Sacramento Kings after apparently getting food poisoning from a room-service cheeseburger. "I've played sicker than this. It's kind of old hat for me. You've only got to use your energy more wisely, play a more cerebral game. You have to pick your spots."