Lakers Have Soft Touch

Recognizing a gift when it was presented to them, the Lakers ripped through the wrapping and beat the Golden State Warriors just in time before the party-crashers arrive at Staples Center.

With Detroit and San Antonio on the all-too-near horizon, the Lakers beat the Warriors, 106-94, winning a road game for the first time since Feb. 8 and creating a hint of momentum Friday at The Arena.

The Warriors were almost too interested in shooting three-pointers to notice the free-throw disparity tilting heavily in favor of the Lakers -- 33-12 through three quarters -- but the Lakers will take it, the better to hold on to eighth place in the Western Conference, their game-and-a-half lead on Sacramento and Utah remaining intact.

Kobe Bryant, hacking and hawking as he battled a sinus infection, had 42 points, five assists and was obviously healthy enough to play

“Good enough, man,” he said beforehand, almost sounding convincing. “Good enough.”

Lamar Odom has called every remaining game through April 19 a playoff game, and then the playoffs will actually begin. The Lakers have been looking less like a participant in them in recent weeks, although nights like Friday make one wonder.

The Laker offense was percolating, the defense did a fine job watching Golden State launch three-pointers -- 32 in all -- and there was even some fire when Smush Parker was ejected early in the fourth quarter after his second technical foul. (Parker, clearly unhappy with the referees, slowly walked the length of the court and stuffed his purple headband into a trash can before heading for the visitors’ locker room.)

Bryant, for his part, stayed in the game, logging 43 minutes, making 11 of 29 shots and hitting 16 of 18 free throws. His reward, other than a victory: Pockets of Laker fans in attendance showered him with an M-V-P chant in the final minute.

He gave a brief postgame TV interview, even laughed once, coughed into a towel and headed off the court.

“I’ve played sicker than this,” he said a few minutes later. “It’s kind of like old hat for me. You’ve just got to pick your spots a little bit. You’ve just got to play a more cerebral game.”

It looked like the Warriors would be more of a factor at first, with Baron Davis returning from a sprained ankle that cost him seven games, and Troy Murphy hitting a reverse layup with a degree-of-difficulty of nine, and Jason Richardson dunking windmill-style with such force that the ball ricocheted off his shoulder after going through the net.

But then they went almost two full quarters between free throws before Mike Dunleavy was awarded two with 3:30 left in the third quarter. Their season-long affection with three-pointers also hurt them.

Meanwhile, the Lakers, losers against Atlanta, Boston and Portland in recent weeks, picked as good a time as any to improve to 14-18 on the road. With games tonight against Detroit and Monday against San Antonio, they needed a shot of self-esteem.

“You just putting the ‘L’ in the column the next two games?” Bryant said. “We’ll go out, play hard and see what happens.”

Chris Mihm had 16 points, his best effort since sustaining a sprained right shoulder almost a month ago, and Brian Cook had 12.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson wasn’t as enthralled with Parker, who had five points before being booted, and Odom, who had seven points on three-for-five shooting. Odom had six rebounds and one assist before fouling out.

“We had guys that just wanted to fizzle up and go hide in the corner,” Jackson said. “I wasn’t happy at all with it.”

Richardson encapsulated what was wrong with the Warriors, scoring 27 points but making only nine of 26 shots, hitting five of 13 from three-point range.

Said Jackson: “I don’t think it was anything particularly we did. I think it was mostly Golden State.”