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Bryant, huge fourth quarter help Lakers blow past Clippers

Dec 17, 2007 - 6:27 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers used a big fourth quarter run to blow past their local rival.

Bryant scored 32 points and Luke Walton made all six of his shots and added a season-high 15 as the Lakers posted a 113-92 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

After leading by as many as 19 in the third quarter, the Lakers had just a six-point lead entering the fourth before running away in the final period for their fifth win in six games.

"We just stick to what we do and just go out there and play," Bryant said. "Try to make sure that the guys stay pretty even-keel. We don't want to get too high or too low, just go out there and do what we gotta do."

The Lakers went on a 13-1 run to start the fourth quarter, taking a 95-77 lead as the Clippers did not make a field goal in the final period until a Cuttino Mobley layup with 6:36 remaining.

Bryant made a 3-pointer from the left wing with just under five minutes to play as the Lakers took their largest lead at 104-82 and coasted to the finish.

The Lakers' superstar showed no effects of a quadriceps injury that he suffered in Friday's loss to Golden State that forced him to sit out part of the final minutes. Bryant scored 18 points in the first half and shot 11-of-22 for the game to go along with eight rebounds.

"I feel okay, it's sore but you play through it," Bryant said. "And we did a good job of staying on top of it, making sure that it's good enough for me to go out and play and help our team. And now it's time to do the same thing and get ready for this trip."

Andrew Bynum had 14 points, nine rebounds and six blocks and Sasha Vujacic scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter for the Lakers, who shot 13-of-20 (65 percent) in the final period and topped the 100-point plateau for the sixth straight game.

"We're undermanned, but we still just have to keep fighting," Clippers guard Corey Maggette said. "We had the opportunity, but tonight, they're the second best scoring team in the league, and their bench came in making shots today. They played a great game, and we just didn't play the way we are capable of playing tonight."

The Clippers were just 5-of-19 (26 percent) in the fourth quarter and were outscored, 31-16, as the Lakers pulled away down the stretch.

The Lakers never trailed during the contest and took control midway through the first quarter, going on a 21-3 run to take a 29-11 bulge with just over one minute remaining in the first.

"We didn't start the game out very well," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "I thought we took some contested shots, didn't execute, we let them get away from us and spent the rest of the night trying to claw our way back."

The Clippers cut the deficit to seven points on a Richie Frahm 3-pointer with 5:15 to go in the half, but the Lakers pushed their advantage back up to double digits and Bryant made three free throws with one second left in the second quarter to give the Lakers a 57-44 advantage at the break.

Walton scored eight points early in the third quarter as the Lakers took a 70-51 lead with 8:21 left in the third. The Clippers used an 8-0 run - keyed by four points from Maggette - to trim the deficit to 77-66 with just over three minutes to play in the quarter.

Maggette finished with 21 points in the third quarter - capped by a one-handed heave from beyond half court at the buzzer - to cut the Clippers deficit to 82-76 entering the fourth.

"We had a laborious third quarter, they had 21 foul shots in that quarter, a never ending march to the line," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Fortunately, our bench came out there and activated the game and got things going."

Chris Kaman posted his ninth straight double-double to start the month of December with 18 points and 16 rebounds and Maggette scored 27 points had six steals to lead the Clippers.

"Their post-up game normally is successful, but I thought Andrew (Bynum) did a good job in the first quarter staying on Kaman and making it tough for him to get situations," Jackson said. "(Kaman) shot a low percentage tonight and that helped us stay in this game. Even though he got some points, it took him a lot of shots to do it."