The Kings were involved in another comeback Tuesday, this time, however, the Lakers were the team that used a second half turnaround to upend the Kings 117-105 at ARCO Arena.

"It's a tough loss no matter how you look at it, but they are a great basketball team and down the stretch they made the plays to win the basketball game," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "I thought we outplayed them for about 42 minutes."

The Kings gained as much as a 13-point lead in the first half and maintained a six-point lead heading into the final quarter by getting out on the fast break (21 points), taking care of the ball (nine turnovers) and shooting a great percentage from the field (51). But the fourth quarter wasn't kind to the Kings as they made just 6-of-23 shots for 18 points while scoring nary a fast break point and committing five turnovers.

"I was real proud about how our guys came out and played," Theus said. "It's just unfortunate that sometimes in games like this you have to accept the fact they made shots and you missed shots down the stretch."

Kobe Bryant, who was held to just eight points on 4-of-11 shooting in the first half and committed three turnovers, took over for the Lakers with the game in the balance. Bryant scored 17 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter while scoring 14 of those points on 16 free throw attempts.

"When they get 40 free throws (and make 33) and we get 17 (and make 16), it's tough to win a game when that happens," Theus said.

The Kings strong first half was highlighted by John Salmons' 15 points, Kevin Martin's 14 points and Ron Artest's 13 points. The trio finished the game with 17, 23 and 23 points, respectively.

"Kevin is different because normally with two-guards in this league, it’s always isolation situations where they have the ball and you have to try to guard them," Bryant said. "But he just moves so fast without the basketball. He just makes cuts off the ball and they do a good job of finding him. I had to get used to it a little bit in the first half but in the second half I was able to lock on with him."

Mikki Moore (13) and Brad Miller (12) combined for 25 of the Kings 44 rebounds, but the Lakers edged the Kings 47-44 on the glass. The Kings big men were also instrumental in giving the Kings a 62-54 advantage on interior scoring.

“We still got beat on the boards," Miller said. "We had three or four loose balls that they rebounded. They executed in the clutch and that was trouble for us. If we had wrapped it up and secured those it might’ve been a big momentum changer.”

The Lakers' newest addition, Pau Gasol, played a strong game throughout finishing with 31 points while shooting 10-of-15 from the field. The Spanish center also tallied 10 boards, four assists, two steals and three blocks.

Lamar Odom (19) and Derek Fisher (17) combined to shot 13-of-20 from the field.

"They have a good team and [Kobe] was definitely carrying them along with Gasol down the stretch," Martin said.

Led by Salmons' 17 points, the Kings reserves outscored the Lakers reserves 24-9.

Despite the loss the Kings have won eight out of their past 10 home games. The team has yet to win a divisional game (0-8), but has another chance to garner its first very soon.

The Kings left immediately following the game destined for Los Angeles to take on the Clippers at STAPLES Center Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The back-to-back set marks the fourth straight week the Kings have played consecutive games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Closing Thought:
It took 11 games and nearly a month's time, but Salmons finally broke double-digits in scoring with 17 points while shooting 7-of-10 from the field Tuesday. The Kings swingman last scored 10-plus points on February 9th at Golden State when he notched 19. During the less than 10-points stretch, Salmons attempted double-digit shot attempts just once and shot just four or fewer shots seven times.

"It was good to see John get his rhythm back," Martin said. "That's what John does when you give the ball to him."

"I was just trying to help the team," Salmons added.