Lakers Gameday | 02/28/08 | Lakers 106, Heat 88

Jordan Farmar scored a career-high 24 points, Kobe Bryant added 21 and the Los Angeles Lakers extended their winning streak to a season-best 10 games Thursday night with a 106-88 victory over the Miami Heat.

The Lakers (41-17) maintained their one-game lead over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs for best record in the Western Conference, and lead Phoenix and New Orleans by two. Just 6 1/2 games separate the top nine teams in the West.

The double-digit winning streak is the 23rd in Lakers' franchise history and 19th in Los Angeles -- including an NBA-record 33-game run during the 1971-72 championship season, when Miami coach Pat Riley was playing for them.

The Heat, which ended an 11-game skid with a 107-86 win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday at Miami, absorbed their 27th loss in 29 games. They are a league-worst 10-45, just two seasons after winning their first NBA title.

Dwyane Wade had 18 points for Miami after playing 13 scoreless minutes during a foul-plagued first half.

Bryant blocked an attempted layup by Shawn Marion in the final seconds of the third quarter, then turned toward the first-row seats across from the Lakers bench and wagged his index finger like Dikembe Mutombo.

Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf blocked two layups by Dorell Wright 2 minutes apart early in the fourth, but was called for fouls both times. He got up again and swatted away an attempted layup by Marcus Banks, triggering a fast-break that resulted in a 3-pointer by Farmar that gave the Lakers an 81-64 lead with 9:06 to play.

Miami got as close as 95-86 with 2:39 remaining on a four-point play by Wade, who was fouled by Bryant on a shot behind the arc and converted the free throw. But Lamar Odom helped seal it for the Lakers with a 21-footer and a 3-pointer in the final 1:25.

Bryant needs 37 points to pass Walt Bellamy (20,941) for 25th place on the career scoring list.

The Lakers, one win away from matching last season's total, are 11-1 since obtaining Gasol from Memphis. Miami is 1-8 since trading Shaquille O'Neal to Phoenix.

Game notes
Riley and Phil Jackson have won a combined 14 NBA titles as head coaches -- seven of them with the Lakers. Riley is second in postseason wins, eight behind Jackson's 179. ... Riley's Lakers faced Jackson's Knicks in the NBA Finals three times in a four-year span during the early 1970s, with the Lakers beating New York in '72 for their first championship in L.A., and the Knicks winning both of theirs at the Lakers' expense. "Knowing him as a player at that time, I would never have assumed that Pat would turn out to be the kind of coach he is. And I'm sure he would say the same thing about me," said Jackson, who developed a kinship with Riley during a Players' Association function in Acapulco in 1973. "We were drafted at the same time and both had back operations early in our careers -- spinal fusions -- so we had a lot of things in common. We had a repartee that went on, and we were pretty comfortable around each other." ... The Lakers own the NBA record with a 33-game winning streak during the 1971-72 championship season, when Riley was playing for them.

After early playoff exits the last two seasons with seventh seeds, Kobe Bryant and the surging Los Angeles Lakers are hoping for an easier path to the NBA finals with the Western Conference's top seed.

The Lakers look to win their 10th straight game and remain atop the West when they host the league-worst Miami Heat, who are coming off their first victory in a month.

Los Angeles (40-17) had the fifth-best record in the West on Jan. 31, but has gone 12-1 this month to move to the top of the highly competitive conference.

The Lakers defeated Portland 96-83 Tuesday, and are just two wins shy of last season's total with 25 games to play.

Los Angeles has been a seventh seed in the playoffs each of the last two seasons, and was knocked out in the first round by Phoenix each time. This season, the Lakers are hoping a top seed can help them win their first NBA title since 2002.

"I've just talked about home-court advantage and what we want to do in terms of getting ourselves in position to compete in the playoffs," coach Phil Jackson said.

On Tuesday, Bryant scored 11 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, and added nine rebounds and seven assists. The 10-time All-Star is averaging 29.0 points on 51.2 percent shooting, 5.6 assists and 5.3 rebounds during the nine-game winning streak -- the club's longest since reeling off 11 straight victories March 13-April 2, 2004.

The Lakers are averaging 112.9 points during their run, and have won their last three by an average of 17.0 points.

"We're having a lot of fun, I think we're enjoying it, but at the same time, we're focused and alert," said Pau Gasol, who is averaging 21.4 points on 62.8 percent shooting and 7.4 boards in 11 games with Los Angeles since being traded from Memphis earlier this month.

"We're excited, but at the same time we're really focused on every game. Next game is Miami, and we're going to try to win that one, too."

Bryant had 33 points as he shot 10-of-15 from the field and made all 11 of his free throws in the Lakers' 104-94 victory over the Heat on Feb. 10. That game came before Miami (10-44) traded Bryant's former teammate, Shaquille O'Neal, to Phoenix, making this the first meeting between the Lakers and the Heat since 1996 that won't feature O'Neal on either team's roster.

Los Angeles, which has won 13 of 16 at Staples Center, has won 10 of its last 13 home games over the Heat.

Miami, meanwhile, has dropped 13 straight road games since a 117-113 win at Phoenix on Dec. 10. This is its longest losing streak away from home since dropping the final 14 road games of the 1990-91 season.

The Heat, however, defeated Sacramento 107-86 on Tuesday to win for the first time since a 98-96 victory over Indiana on Jan. 26.

Miami shot 52.0 percent (39-of-75) for the game and set a franchise record by holding the Kings to 10.0 percent (2-of-20) in the third quarter.

"I know we've had it in us," coach Pat Riley said. "I don't know where it's been. But, we played extremely well. We just played a complete game for 48 minutes."

The Heat, who have lost 26 of their last 28 games, now try to win consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 9 and 10. Tuesday's win was the first for Miami since trading O'Neal to Phoenix for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

"It feels good to get this first one," said Marion, averaging 17.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in six games for Miami. "Now let's try to string a few of them along."

Dwyane Wade finished with 15 points and nine assists on Tuesday after scoring at least 30 points in three straight games. Wade had 19 points and nine assists against the Lakers last month after averaging 36.3 points and 8.7 assists in the previous three meetings.