SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 19 (Ticker) -- Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers proved that not only can they beat good teams without fellow All-Star Shaquille O'Neal, they can do it on minimal sleep.

NBA TV highlights from Lakers-Jazz: 56k | 300k

Bryant continued his remarkable scoring run with 40 points and the Lakers followed up Tuesday's emotional double-overtime victory with a 93-87 triumph over the Utah Jazz.

"It was important to win this game," Bryant said. "We lose a game like this tonight and all our fighting last night was for nothing."

Bryant shot 15-of-29 from the floor to reach the 40-point plateau for the seventh straight game, extending his own franchise record.

But after carrying the Lakers through the previous night's win over Houston with a season-high 52 points, Bryant had some help.

With the Lakers trailing, 58-51, in the third quarter, Derek Fisher sank two free throws and a jumper and Rick Fox drained a 3-pointer to forge a tie with 4:57 left in the period.

The Lakers went ahead by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter, but Utah fought back.

After John Stockton's jumper cut the deficit to 76-74 with 5:26 left, Bryant answered with two baskets and a free throw and Robert Horry sank two foul shots to give Los Angeles an 83-74 advantage with 3:47 left.

"We were lucky to come away with a win tonight because we knew we were undermanned," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We just thought it was going to be a night of a lot of fouls."

Fisher scored 16 points and Fox added 11 for the Lakers, who did not get to their hotel in Utah until 3 in the morning after Tuesday's home win.

"We missed a real opportunity tonight," Stockton said. "It's still clearly an advantage to have Shaq not playing. He's such a big cog in their team."

Karl Malone scored 25 points and Matt Harpring netted 21 as the Jazz lost for just the second time in six games.

"I don't think we deserved to win this game. We have offensive and defensive assignments that we talk about in the huddle, and then we go out a few seconds later and don't execute," Malone said. "The whole night was like that, so we didn't derserve to win."

The Lakers won for the ninth time in 11 games and improved to 5-10 this season without O'Neal, who is nursing a sore left knee and right big toe.

Bryant, who surpassed 35 points for the 12th straight game, scored 23 points in the first half as the teams went into the break knotted at 46-46.

"You aren't going to stop Kobe Bryant," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "I think our guys kind of bought into the thing that he wasn't going to be healthy to play, and you get snake bit."

The Jazz got off to a quick start in the third, using a 7-0 run to take a 58-51 lead on Greg Ostertag's free throw with 7:22 remaining.

But Los Angeles came right back and neither team was able to gain a significant advantage until the fourth quarter, when the Lakers took a nine-point lead on Horry's foul shots.

Bryant even won over the sellout crowd of 19,911, who cheered and chanted his name when he visited the foul line in the fourth quarter and sank his 40th point.

The road win was the sixth in a row for the Lakers, whose last setback away from home came at Houston on January 17.

Bryant went 4-of-6 from 3-point range as Los Angeles shot 10-of-24 from beyond the arc and 43 percent (15-of-29) overall from the field.

Stockton finished with 15 points and seven assists for Utah, which shot 43 percent (34-of-79) from the floor in falling to 1-3 against the Lakers this season.