Lakers snap 3-game skid on Kobe's jumper
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And though he savored the chance to stop Los Angeles' longest losing streak in nearly three years with yet another flawless game-winning shot, Bryant is hoping he won't have to bail out the Lakers quite so frequently in the final weeks before they defend their title.
Bryant hit a 17-foot jumper with 1.9 seconds left and the Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter to snap their three-game losing streak with a 109-107 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.
Chris Bosh hit a 3-pointer with 9.5 seconds left to tie it for the Raptors, who outplayed the champs for most of the first three quarters before losing on yet another big shot by Bryant, who scored 14 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter.
Two days after missing a last-second shot in Orlando, Bryant didn't hesitate to take the ball again on the wing. Bryant, who missed a shot at the buzzer in Los Angeles' loss at Toronto in January, eluded Antoine Wright's defense and glided nearly to the baseline for a graceful jumper.
"That's my responsibility here, to close things out," Bryant said with a shrug. "The same shot in Orlando, and I missed it."
Wright's failed desperation shot set off a celebration for the Lakers, who haven't lost four straight since April 2007. Yet the streamers hadn't fallen from the Staples Center roof before Bryant began criticizing the Lakers' latest lackluster effort.
"This thing tonight was garbage," he said of the Lakers' effort, adding his account of the positives from the win: "None".
Andrew Bynum scored 22 points and Pau Gasol had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who returned from a winless road trip to beat Toronto for the eighth straight time at Staples Center.
Lamar Odom had 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and several big fourth-quarter plays for the Lakers, who pushed their suddenly tenuous lead over Dallas atop the Western Conference standings back to three games while winning their only home game in a 16-day stretch.
"In the second half, we picked it up and it paid off," Gasol said. "We've got to start building on our confidence and really stepping it up. So far lately we've been struggling. We've been playing well in stretches, but not consistently, and we've got to figure that out."
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