<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Nearly everyone in the lineup contributed against the Mavericks, starting with Bryant, who finished with a game-high 36 points on 14-for-22 shooting. Bryant also broke Gail Goodrich's franchise record for consecutive free throws before finally missing after 43 in a row. Chris Mihm, who endured a tough road trip last week to Toronto, New York and Boston, delivered a pair of big blocks in the final two minutes, rejecting Marquis Daniels and Alan Henderson with the Mavericks needing a basket to take the lead. Chucky Atkins, perhaps the player most upset with the way things have been going recently for the Lakers, chipped in with 13 points and hit the biggest shot of the night, a 3-pointer with 3:42 remaining that put his team ahead 92-88. "We had a nice chat yesterday about things," Hamblen said. "They came out and played. I'm really happy for these guys." The Lakers set a goal of holding Dallas to 90 points and were on pace to do so through the first half. Still, the Mavericks had a chance to tie at the end, but Dirk Nowitzki couldn't connect on a 3-pointer with 10.9 seconds left. Nowitzki shot just 6 of 19 Thursday and went a combined 13 for 36 as Dallas (39-21) lost twice to the Lakers in the span of seven days. Brown, meanwhile, hit two of his biggest shots all season. He hadn't played in two of the Lakers' past three games before Hamblen approached him at shootaround and said he would try to find more minutes against the Mavericks. With the defensive double-teaming Bryant in the fourth quarter, Brown hit an open 3-pointer with 10:05 left to give the Lakers their first lead since the second quarter. Brown finished with 10 points in 16 minutes off the bench. "I didn't really understand why I wasn't playing," Brown said. "I just didn't know. But I just kept my head up because things can always be a lot worse. I'm just happy to help the team." Bryant sounded an us-against-them tone for the rest of the trip. "Nobody standing in front of us thinks we're going to win on this road trip," Bryant said. "So there's no pressure on us. This is an opportunity for us to go out and do something big." </div> Source
