Kobe Bryant showed the leadership skills that earned him his second All-Star MVP award. The Los Angeles Lakers will need those skills to avoid the longest losing streak in coach Phil Jackson's career.

Bryant will try to help the Los Angeles Lakers end a season-high five-game losing streak when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

The Lakers (30-24) will be looking to end the slide that took them into the break. They dropped the final three games of an eight-game road trip, then lost two in a row at Staples Center to extend their home slide to four games.

The five-game overall skid matches the longest of Jackson's career, something that's happened just three times in his 16 seasons as a coach. He wasn't happy after Los Angeles lost 114-108 to Cleveland on Thursday, the Lakers' 11th loss in the last 15 games.

"I think I saw players that had quit in their eyes tonight, and that bothered me," said Jackson, who's won nine NBA titles, three with the Lakers.

Perhaps the Lakers will be refreshed by the time off, though the team will be missing another key player after forward Vladimir Radmanovic separated his shoulder Saturday in Park City, Utah. Radmanovic will be out two months, joining Luke Walton and Kwame Brown on the injured list for the Lakers.

In their absence, the Lakers will need Bryant to continue to provide his leadership and production. He was named All-Star MVP for the second time after scoring a game-high 31 points with six assists and six steals, and earned respect from his West teammates a 153-132 win Sunday in Las Vegas.

"He played within the flow of the game," fellow West starter Tracy McGrady said. "It wasn't like he was trying to take every shot, come down and get his game off. He had a few assists. He played well. You couldn't tell he was going after the MVP."

Bryant is averaging 28.8 points on 46.8 percent shooting, his highest since 2001-02 when he shot 46.9 percent. And he may be getting some more help, as the Lakers are rumored to be one of the favorites to land New Jersey's Jason Kidd, with the All-Star point guard reportedly on the trading block heading into Thursday afternoon's trading deadline.

"I just kind of hear basically what you guys hear," Bryant said. "I hear all the talk going on but I don't really know the seriousness of it or the possibility of it.

"In our position, we're a team that's extremely young and if you have an opportunity to bring a player like Jason Kidd in, that's something that you definitely, definitely have to look at. Nobody's approached me on it yet, that's why I don't know if it's talk or if it's rumor."

Los Angeles, 19-8 at Staples Center, has won 14 of its last 17 at home against Portland. The Trail Blazers, though, won 101-90 at home on Nov. 8 and have won four of the last six overall between the teams.

Portland beat Utah 103-100 at home on Tuesday night in its first game after the break. The Blazers (23-32) had lost five of seven going in, but held on to beat the Jazz despite nearly blowing a 12-point lead with six minutes to play.

Brandon Roy had 27 points and Zach Randolph had 20 points and 12 rebounds

"Brandon was really good tonight - he played aggressive basketball," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "He was so good in the pick-and-roll and that's been our other option after Zach."

The Blazers, who have lost eight of their last 11 away from home, play just four road games in the next month, though two of those are against the Lakers.