Sacramento rolls past the Lakers

Brad Miller totaled 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Kenny Thomas ended with 14 points and seven boards, as the Kings won their season-high fifth straight game and climbed past the Lakers by a half-game into seventh place in the Western Conference.

Kevin Martin added 12 points for the surging Kings, who have won 13 in a row at ARCO Arena. The last time Sacramento lost in front of its home crowd was on January 8th to the Indiana Pacers.

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points despite being bottled up most of the night by Artest’s defense. Bryant also had seven rebounds and seven assists, but shot just 12-of-28 from the field. Lamar Odom added 24 points and seven assists, as the Lakers lost their second straight.

A three-pointer by Smush Parker at the start of the fourth quarter brought the Lakers within 83-81, but LA never went ahead down the stretch.

Miller responded with consecutive jumpers and the dagger came when Bibby drained a three with 4:33 left to push the score to 104-90, and Bryant came back down the floor and threw up an air ball.

The Lakers led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, as a free throw by Kwame Brown pushed the score to 26-18. LA was in front 31-24 after 12 minutes.

However, the Kings scored the first seven of the second quarter, tying the game on a reverse layup from Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

Ten straight points later in the quarter moved the Kings ahead for good. A Martin jumper capped the run with 7:26 left in the half to make the score 41-33. Bryant’s jumper at the end of the quarter had the Lakers within 54-50.

The Kings extended to a lead of as many as 11 in the third quarter, as a Thomas jumper moved the score to 78-67, but the Lakers closed to 83-78 going into the fourth.

Game Notes

Bryant was 4-of-8 from three-point range...The Lakers have lost three straight at Sacramento...Parker scored 15 and Brown had 10...The teams combined to shoot 21-of-40 from beyond the arc...The Kings were 26-of-28 at the foul line, as Artest and Bibby each went 8-for-8...Sacramento shot 54.2 percent from the field.