Sans Kobe, Lakers use full team effort to hold off Kings

By Bryan Chu, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday April 14, 2010 2:30AM

LOS ANGELES (NBA.com exclusive) -- In what was their final regular-season home game, the Lakers -- already shorthanded without Kobe Bryant -- used every available player and had to re-insert the starting lineup late in the game.

The Kings, who won seven road games all season, whittled the Lakers' double-digit lead to four in the final minute. But it was Pau Gasol and Shannon Brown who gave the Lakers an extra push down the stretch as they went on to pull out a 106-100 victory against the Kings.

Brown's performance couldn't come at a better time. Mired in a slump because of a torn ligament and bone bruise in his right thumb, Brown managed to cobble together his best game in nearly two months.

"It hurts [but] I just drown it out," said Brown, who finished with 24 points on 10-for-19 shooting in Bryant's place. "I'm trying to get a nice rhythm that's going to be consistent through the playoffs."

Gasol finished with a game-high 28 points on 12-for-15 shooting as the Lakers (57-24) swept the season series 4-0 and have won six straight against Sacramento.

Various injuries have plagued the defending champs all season. Tuesday was no different.

Backup point guard Jordan Farmar went down with a left hamstring strain in the second quarter. The injury doesn't seem as serious as originally thought. After the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Farmar will be active for Wednesday's season finale against the Clippers.

In all, the Lakers' starting lineup -- minus Derek Fisher -- has missed a combined 45 games. Gasol with 17 (both hamstrings), Bryant seven (fractured finger, right ankle, swollen right knee), Andrew Bynum 16 games (left Achilles tendon, straight right elbow, hip) and counting and Ron Artest five (concussion).

"Not having consistency is always something tough to deal with," Brown said.

That has shown late in the season as the Lakers have struggled, winning just four of their last 10.

The good news, however, is the imminent return of Bynum, who is expected to be ready for Game 1 against the Oklahoma City.

"His size really hurts [the Thunder]," Jackson said. "He can have an impact on the series."

The Lakers have had their fair share of trouble with a speedy points guards (Thunder's Russell Westbrook) and with Kevin Durant developing into one the league's premier scorers, Jackson knows what the Lakers need to do.

"Win as quickly as possible," said Jackson pregame. "Apply the pressure. Take advantage of the growth and the inexperience or the non-growth and experience they might exhibit."

In its final game of the season, Sacramento (25-57) showed its growth from a year before.

The Kings finished the season winning eight more games, an accomplishment Kings coach Paul Westphal feels is a step in the right direction.

"By any measure there was improvement and we are optimistic that [this team] will continue to improve," he said. "I am sorry it is over, I really like this team."

Added Jason Thompson, who had 19 points and a game-high 16 rebounds: "Not a lot of people had high expectations for us ... we started getting this city going and a lot of people started to notice us."

On Tuesday, the Kings did keep this game close throughout. They got to within 67-64 after two straight baskets by Tyreke Evans with 8:04 to go in the game. But everything came apart for the Kings after Evans' second basket.

Referee Derek Richardson whistled Evans for back-to-back technical fouls after he argued for a foul. The Kings never recovered from that point.

Evans finished with 10 points in 16 minutes in what was a stellar rookie season, averaging 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 72 games.

"This season was one of the best rookie seasons [the league] has had," Westphal said. "He's almost never had a bad game. ... He is a very mature professional and will only get better as he goes about this league."

Before the game, Evans, who is a favorite to win the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, reflected on the season.

"It's been a long, but good season. I didn't expect to be averaging 20-5-5," said Evans, who added he is glad the talk about the Rookie of the Year is almost over because "people texted me about it all season ... Brandon [Jennings] had this [many points] constantly. I had to get my number changed. It got that bad. [The texts and calls] started coming in midseason, after each game."

After Evans was tossed, the Lakers used a 19-7 run highlighted by Sasha Vujacic's 13-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Lakers an 86-73 lead at the end the third.

Vujacic had a season-high 13 points and D.J. Mbenga chipped in with nine.

For the Kings, Beno Udrih had a team-high 21 and a game-high 11 assists. After missing much of the season following a surgery on his broken right forearm, Francisco Garcia tallied 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting.