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| LOS ANGELES, March 29 (Ticker) -- Kobe Bryant got some help from his teammates to get the Los Angeles Lakers a much-needed win. Stephon Marbury wishes he could say the same. Bryant scored 32 points to lead five players in double figures as the Lakers snapped a season-high eight-game losing streak with a 117-107 victory over the New York Knicks. The loss capped a winless West Coast road trip for the Knicks despite another outstanding performance from Marbury, who scored 34 of his season-high 45 points in the second half. "They looked like a team that wanted to win," Marbury said. "They played like a team that wanted to win. They got loose balls and they made key shots. My playing the way I did basically just kept us in the game." Marbury, who also handed out 10 assists, made 9-of-13 shots, including 6-of-7 3-pointers, in the final two periods, when the rest of the team shot 40 percent (10-of-25). During the four-game trip, Marbury averaged 32.8 points and 8.8 assists. The dismal trip dropped the Knicks six games out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. "I think we could have won every game on this road trip," Jamal Crawford, Marbury's starting backcourt mate, said. "Honestly, we were in every game. It definitely makes it harder and now we have to play perfect the rest of the way to get into the playoffs." The Lakers led throughout the second half, but the Knicks drew within 64-60 with 6:34 left in the third quarter. But Bryant combined with Devean George to provide all of the offense in an 11-3 run that pushed the lead 75-63 two minutes later. "It was a good win for us," Bryant said. "Any win was a good win for us at this point." George, who missed the first 67 games of the season with a left ankle injury, made 6-of-11 shots and scored a season-high 18 points in 33 minutes off the bench. "I'm still a little rusty," George said. "I feel like I'm wearing cement blocks for tennis shoes. It felt good to hit those wide open shots. They were doubling Kobe and we were swinging the ball, so I got wide-open shots." "Something we have been missing is someone to come on the floor and score points in bunches off the bench," said guard Chucky Atkins, who scored 12 points. "He came out and made a lot of guys' jobs easier tonight." Marbury scored 16 of the Knicks' 28 points in the fourth quarter, but New York never was able to get closer than seven and lost for the ninth time in 10 road contests. Caron Butler contributed 26 points and six rebounds for the Lakers, who shot 53 percent (39-of-73) to keep their slim postseason hopes alive. "We just haven't been playing defense like we did during our previous wins for some reason," Marbury said. "Defense is just an effort thing, you can't allow a team to shoot 53 percent from the field." Los Angeles (33-37) trails Denver by 5½ games for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. "Our playoff hopes are probably very slim at this point," Lakers interim coach Frank Hamblen said. "We just want to play good basketball. We play a lot of good teams who are jockeying for positions. Until you're mathematically eliminated, you still have a chance for the playoffs, but our chances are very slim." |