After losing three straight games, the Los Angeles Lakers bounced back to squeeze out a victory against the Sacramento Kings led by Kobe Bryant’s 32 points and six assists.

Kobe is now 31 points away from passing Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list. After the game, Lakers reporter Mike Trudell asked Bryant what that means to him, and Bryant responded, “It means I’ve been pleased to be relatively healthy for 19 years.”

The Lakers had to grind this one out, as they were losing for most of the game. The Kings jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Lakers managed to keep it close thanks to terrific bench play in the first half. The Lakers bench had 22 of the 46 first half points for the team, as Nick Young and Carlos Boozer did most of the scoring.

This was Boozer’s second game coming off the bench. The veteran forward was disappointed with his new role, but that did not affect his game tonight, as he had seven points at the half and 15 for the game.

The Lakers were also extremely clean in the first half, turning it over only two times, and those two turnovers came late in the second quarter, both coming from Kobe. Three-point shooting is what hurt the Lakers this game, as they shot only 8.3 percent at the half and 20 percent for the game.

The Kings took a 55-46 lead into intermission led by second-year man Ben McLemore. They were shooting lights out in the first half, hitting 54.1 percent of their shots compared to Lakers’ 37.3 percent.

Kobe Bryant, who had 11 at halftime, caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 12 more points to bring the Lakers within two, 69-67. The Lakers stayed within striking distance to end the third, down only by three.

The Lakers played possibly their best defense of this season in the fourth quarter to edge out the Kings, but it was also a mixture of the Kings offense going cold. The Kings went on a long drought during the middle of the fourth period, going scoreless for four minutes and 28 seconds. However, during that time, the Lakers only scored two field goals.

Poor costless throw shooting also hurt the Kings in this one, as they went 24-of-37 from the line, good for 64.9 percent.

With the Kings down one, Rudy Gay attempted a 25-foot three point jumper that did not fall, and the Kings were forced to foul Kobe with 15 seconds remaining on the clock. Kobe drained two costless throws, but it was still a one possession game. In the final play of the game, the Kings tried to run a three-point play, but the Lakers clamped down defensively and forced rookie Nik Stauskas to throw up a tough three-point attempt that clanged off the rim and into the hands of Wesley Johnson right as the buzzer sounded.

The Lakers were finally able to close out a game, as they improve to 6-16 on the season. As mentioned in the game’s preview, the biggest difference in this game was turnovers, as the Kings coughed up the ball 16 times and the Lakers only five times, which resulted into 21 points off turnovers for L.A. compared to Sacramento’s four.

The Kings were without DeMarcus Cousins for a seventh straight game, as they now drop to 11-11 and have lost five out of their last seven games with their big man out of the lineup. Darren Collison led the way for the Kings tonight with 26 points and six assists on an efficient 11-of-18 shooting. However, Collison, an 80 percent foul shooter, missed six of his eight costless throws in this game. Rudy Gay added 23 points, five boards, and five assists, but it wasn’t enough.

The Kings will now move on to face the Houston Rockets on Thursday, December 11. The Lakers hit the road again and will play host to the defending champions San Antonio Spurs on Friday, December 12.