Win Is a Collective Sigh of Relief

Kobe Bryant went historical after Thursday’s victory over the Mavericks at Dallas, pulling a Ben Franklin quote from the back of his mind, with one or two words rearranged to apply to the Lakers’ playoff chase:

“We must all hang together or we will surely all hang separately.”

Bryant had no further references when pressed -- “Breathe easy, breathe easy.... I can’t give away all my quotations,” he said -- but the Lakers understand the history they are fighting to avoid, with only three non-playoff seasons since the franchise moved from Minneapolis in 1960.

Now 10-17 in road games after the 100-95 victory over the Mavericks, the Lakers catch a couple of breaks in an otherwise difficult six-game trip, with a game tonight against the Charlotte Bobcats and an earlier arrival time than the Bobcats, who lost Friday night in Philadelphia.

It won’t mean much to the Lakers if they revert to the unsure, defer-to-Bryant bunch that had lost five of seven before beating the Mavericks.

For starters, the final few minutes against Dallas went the opposite way of the Lakers’ three flubbed finishes in road losses last week to the Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. The Lakers extended a fragile lead instead of losing it, and took the first game of the trip.

“It showed growth,” Bryant said. “We need to see that. We felt like we’ve been improving and been getting better. But to have the results against a team like the Dallas Mavericks, it helps us a lot.”

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Bryant stood in front of the media after Thursday’s victory and admonished those who had doubted the Lakers, saying, “Nobody standing in front of us thinks we were going to win on this trip.”

He might as well have been wagging a finger at one of his bosses too.

Magic Johnson, who can claim about 4% of the Laker franchise as his own, said in an interview during Thursday’s TNT telecast that the Lakers would have a tough time qualifying for the playoffs.

“It’s going to be probably impossible, almost, for the Lakers to make it with the road schedule that the Lakers have,” Johnson said. “They would have to play perfect basketball and we don’t have a perfect team to play perfect basketball.”

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It happened six days ahead of tipoff: Bryant was asked for the first time about the looming matchup Thursday against the Miami Heat and Shaquille O’Neal. To nobody’s real surprise, Bryant demonstrated no interest, at least publicly.

“Don’t really care,” he said. “We have a job to do around here and we plan on doing it. It’s not a big deal to me at all.”

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TODAY

at Charlotte, 4 p.m. PST, Channel 9

Site -- Charlotte Coliseum.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 31-29; Bobcats 12-47.

Record vs. Bobcats -- 1-0.

Update -- The Lakers haven’t lost to an expansion team in its first season since falling to the Orlando Magic, 108-103, in December 1989. The Lakers had little trouble against the Bobcats, even without Kobe Bryant, in a 101-90 victory Jan. 30 at Staples Center. Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins each had 20 points in the absence of Bryant, who was out because of a sprained ankle.