Lakers trail Bucks, 57-55

The trip ended, finally, the way the Lakers would have wanted it.

It wasn’t exactly poetic, and they needed various pick-me-ups just to stay awake, but win they did, beating the Milwaukee Bucks, 104-98, on Wednesday at Bradley Center.

It gave them a 5-2 mark on their longest foray from Staples Center this season, and it got them within 2 1/2 games of Cleveland for the league’s best record.

They dressed quickly after the game, smiling at the way they rediscovered their winning touch. Or maybe it was just the fact that their 13-day odyssey had run its course.

“We had two tough games, but we bounced back from that,” Kobe Bryant said. “We don’t let those losses get past two. It was a good trip.”

The Lakers (59-16) ended a modest two-game losing streak and avoided their first three-game losing streak since acquiring Pau Gasol last season.

The first three quarters against the Bucks were mostly a sleepwalk, in many ways, as the Lakers failed to put away the injury-ravaged Bucks.

Lamar Odom was seen sipping coffee at the end of the bench in the second quarter. Bryant walked by a group of courtside reporters and laughed at how bored they looked.

“Y’all look like you need something to write about,” he said, smiling.

Bryant provided it, along with help from Gasol.

The Lakers outscored the Bucks in the fourth quarter, 24-17, with Gasol scoring eight of his 15 points and Bryant completing a late three-point play that provided just enough of a cushion.

Afterward, Bryant sat in front of his locker, munching on a piece of pizza after scoring 30 points on 10-for-19 shooting. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“It was tough the first 3 1/2 quarters, something like that,” he said. “It seemed like we were kind of stuck in the mud a little bit. We were able to kind of hang in there with them and got something going.”

For a while, the Lakers looked like they would go home with a 4-3 record on the trip. The Bucks, without Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut, led by 11 in the second quarter and by one going into the fourth.

But Gasol’s three-point play off a baseline dunk gave the Lakers the lead for good, 85-84, with 8:24 to play. Bryant completed a three-point play after dribbling past Charlie Bell for a 98-88 lead with 3:47 left, though the Bucks made one last surge and scored seven in a row.

With the Lakers up three, Gasol batted a key rebound out to Jordan Farmar after Bryant missed a shot from the left side. Bryant then made two free throws after being fouled to give the Lakers a 100-95 lead with 18.8 seconds left.

“It’s just about finding a way to win,” said Odom, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds. “We’ve played better games than we did tonight, but we came out with a victory.”

Now they get to go home, where five of their last seven regular-season games take place and a few issues of importance await them.

Andrew Bynum probably will begin playing by the end of the regular season, and Bryant will or won’t have done enough to convince voting media members that he deserves a second consecutive most-valuable-player award.

Other than that, the Lakers want to keep Cleveland honest by staying within striking range of the league’s top record. They also want to stay ahead of Boston and Orlando if they can’t nail down the top overall record.

For now, they won the last game of a trip that started March 21.

“We’ve been on the road how long? Thirteen days?” Odom said. “It’s time to get back.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com