Kobe, Gasol help Lakers hold off Warriors, 114-106

LOS ANGELES(AP) After giving up leads of 15
points and 14 points in their previous two games, the Los Angeles
Lakers came within a 3-point miss by Kelenna Azubuike of squandering an
18-point advantage to the Golden State Warriors.The Lakers held
on for a 114-106 victory Thursday night as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol
each scored 21 points to help complete Los Angeles' third four-game
season sweep of the Warriors in four years.Now the defending
Western Conference champions begin their longest trip of the season -
seven games - on Saturday night at Chicago, and don't play again at
Staples Center until April 3 against Houston."Jeanie wants me to
have my suits sent ahead and not even pack,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson
said in reference to girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, the Lakers' executive
vice president of business operations. "But I don't feel that luxurious
about my life yet. I still need to pack my own bags.''Jackson then packed away his trademark bemused grin and got serious."It's
a road trip that we have to play every game with that mentality of
playing consistent conservative basketball,'' the Hall of Fame said.Bryant
feels that a long road trip is just what the Lakers need to prevent
them from becoming too complacent before the playoffs begin."It's
good that it is coming up at this time of year,'' said Bryant, who
committed five of the team's 22 turnovers. "If you go out on the road,
basically it's us against the world, so to speak. So we are able to
bond and connect. These type of trips build great momentum.''The
Lakers, who haven't lost consecutive home games since a three-game
stretch last March, bounced back from a 94-93 defeat to Philadelphia on
Tuesday night in which they blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead and
lost on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Andre Iguodala.On Sunday,
they gave up a 15-point third-quarter lead against Dallas, and trailed
by six in the fourth before rallying for a 107-100 win.Jackson
acknowledged that his team is far from being playoff-ready on defense -
something that cost them in last year's finals against Boston when they
blew a 24-point lead at home before losing Game 4."We talked
about that yesterday,'' Jackson said. "We had a list of seven items up
there on the boards that were haunting us, starting with turnovers in
transition plays and offensive rebounds, which are dead-giveway types
of things, and understanding our rotations that we have to do when we
get into screen-roll situations.''Thursday's victory was the
Lakers' 31st at home, eclipsing last season's total, and kept them a
full game behind Cleveland for the NBA's best record and homecourt
advantage throughout the playoffs with 14 games remaining.Monta
Ellis scored 27 points and Azubuike added 25 for the Warriors, who have
lost 19 of their last 22 meetings with the Lakers and are 2-18 at
Staples Center since the arena opened in 1999."There's nothing
we can say. we left it all on the court,'' Ellis said. They made more
good plays than we did down the stretch.''The Lakers took a
77-59 lead on Derek Fisher's 3-pointer with 3:34 left in the third
quarter. The Warriors scored the next 12 points to make it a six-point
differential. But Sasha Vujacic scored nine of his 12 points in the
fourth quarter, and Lamar Odom converted a pair of 3-point plays 66
seconds apart to give Los Angeles a 101-86 lead with 5:59 to play.Golden
State then went on a 16-4 run capped by Jackson's fastbreak layup with
2:40 remaining, after off one of six Lakers turnovers in the final
quarter. But Azubuike missed a 3 that would have tied the game, and
that was the Warriors' last gasp.Bryant who did not shoot any
free throws against Philadelphia, didn't attempt a foul shot against
the Warriors until he completed a three-point play that gave the Lakers
a 105-95 lead with 3:49 to play.In a game that pitted the
league's top rebounding team against the worst, the Lakers held a 50-42
advantage. Gasol had 14 boards and Odom had 12, along with 16 points.Warriors
leading scorer Stephen Jackson returned to the lineup, scoring 10
points and shooting 5-for-17. He sat out Tuesday's victory over the
Clippers because of an automatic one-game suspension he received for
getting his 16th technical foul of the season in Sunday's loss to
Phoenix.Notes: Former Lakers coach Pat Riley, currently
president of the Miami Heat, turns 64 years old on Friday. "Pat turning
64 isn't a scary thing, it's a beautiful thing. And it's even better
now that he's not coaching anymore - even though I know he misses it,''
said Magic Johnson, Riley's point guard on four NBA championship teams
in Los Angeles. "It probably would have been scary if he was still in
there coaching because, from my point of view, it was taking its toll
on him. So this is the best for him - to just be the team president and
make the basketball decisions. He and I will always be linked together.
One of the highlights of my life was when he went into the Hall of Fame
in September and we reflected back on all the memories and the good
times we all shared together. I'm happy that he's turning 64, looking
good and feeling good.'' ... Jackson, who has coached the Lakers to
three championships, is four games away from passing Riley's franchise
record for games coached (727). ... Warriors coach Don Nelson, whose
1,304 regular-season wins are second all-time behind Lenny Wilkens, is
two losses away from 1,000. Nelson has 274 more wins than Jackson.