Lakers 120 - Knicks 109

Thank god for this victory! Really thought that the Lakers confidence would head south if they lost this game and it sure looked like it in the fourth quarter but thanks to Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic the Lakers were able to pull out a 120-109 win over the New York Knicks at Staples Center and ended their three game losing streak.

The game was very close for the first three quarters but then the Knicks suddenly had a 100-91 lead in the fourth. That's when Vujacic stepped up and hit a couple three pointers. Kobe then made a jumper that put the Lakers up 106-104 and things were sweet from there. The Knicks got pretty close with about three minutes left when Zach Randolphs basket put them only two points behind the Lakers. That's as close as they would get though as the Lakers scored the next ten points to seal the victory.

Sasha Vujicic ended the game with 20 points and should see more playing time due to the first quarter injury of Luke Walton (hip pointer). Walton is listed as day to day and Kobe Bryant will spend some time playing small forward which will free up some minutes for Sasha at the shooting guard position. Kobe Bryant had 24 points, 8 assist and 11 rebounds in the game. Lamar Odom also had a decent game scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

The Lakers will now begin a very long nine game road trip Thursday in Detroit to battle one of the NBA's elite teams.