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Kinsey, Gay help Grizzlies end Lakers' five-game winning streak

Mar 28, 2007 - 6:36 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Rookies Tarence Kinsey and Rudy Gay helped the Memphis Grizzlies get revenge and slow down Kobe Bryant.

Kinsey scored a season-high 24 points and Gay added 20 and 12 rebounds as the Grizzlies posted an 88-86 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who had a five-game winning streak stopped.

Last Thursday, Bryant blitzed Memphis for 60 points on 20-of-37 shooting in a 121-119 triumph. The league's leading scorer entered having scored 40-plus points in his last five games, including four 50-plus efforts.

An undrafted free agent from South Carolina, Kinsey connected on 10-of-18 shots, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range. He also grabbed seven rebounds.

"It does a lot for my confidence," Kinsey said. "I was undrafted, I'm getting some minutes, starting to produce on the court and help the team win and get my career high makes me want to get up early and go to the gym and practice even harder."

But Bryant and his teammates were cooled off by league-worst Memphis, which held the nine-time All-Star to 23 points on 7-of-26 shooting and the Lakers to 34 percent (33-of-96).

"It was just one of those games we just couldn't get our rhythm," Bryant said. "Everybody has games like that and we had one."

"It really was not a very good game," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Kobe was due to have a game where shots don't go down and he wasn't shooting the ball well."

In the fourth quarter, Kinsey broke an 81-81 tied with his 3-pointer from the wing and added two free throws as the Grizzlies built a five-point advantage with 13 seconds left.

Bryant's deep shot from the arc cut the deficit to 86-84 four seconds later and after Memphis' Pau Gasol split a pair of foul shots, Bryant sank two from the line to make it a one-point contest with eight ticks left.

Hakim Warrick split two free throws, giving the Lakers a chance to win or send the game into overtime. But Smush Parker misfired on a 3-pointer and Gasol rejected Bryant's baseline jumper as time expired.

"I just stayed with it," Gasol said. "I knew there wasn't much time on the clock and I knew he was going to take the shot. I just went up and challenged it and with my length I was able to do it."

Lamar Odom recorded his fourth straight double-double for Los Angeles, which shot 34 percent (33-of-96) from the field.

"There's not much to say about that game." Jackson said. "It was one of the poorest shooting efforts we've had in the season."

The Lakers (38-33) have just a two-game lead over the idle Denver Nuggets (35-34) for sixth place in the Western Conference standings.