LOS ANGELES -- Just when it appeared the Los Angeles Lakers were going to successfully rally from a 26-point deficit, the Golden State Warriors turned to Stephen Jackson.
Smart move.
Jackson scored six of his 31 points on two 3-pointers in the final 38½ seconds, and the Warriors beat the Lakers 115-111 Sunday night.
Jackson's first 3-pointer gave the Warriors a 112-108 lead. After Kobe Bryant's 3-pointer with 30.5 seconds left drew the Lakers within one, Jackson connected from the top of the key with 8.1 seconds left to put the game away.
"He has made big shots for us all year," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "I don't know how he does it. We put him in a good position where he was open."
Bryant made two 3-pointers in the last 56.4 seconds, drawing the Lakers within one point each time. But Jackson responded on both occasions.
"I hated that it came down to that," Jackson said. "I think we got a little too complacent with that lead. We should have known Kobe was going to come back and take over and bring his team back.
"The biggest thing was in the third quarter we walked the ball up and they ran. And we got the lead by running. But we found a way to win. That shows the growth of this team from last year. It was ugly, but it was still a win."
Monta Ellis also had 31 points along with seven rebounds and five assists for the Warriors, who won for the 10th time in 14 games. Baron Davis scored 18 points and Al Harrington added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State (43-26), which remained 1½ games ahead of Denver in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The win was the second straight for the Warriors over the Lakers after a nine-game losing streak to their in-state rivals.
Bryant scored 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, and added a season-high 14 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers (48-22), who had their three-game winning streak snapped and fell percentage points behind the Western Conference-leading New Orleans Hornets.
Lamar Odom had 19 points and a career-high 22 rebounds and Ronny Turiaf and Derek Fisher scored 16 each for Los Angeles.
Lakers center Pau Gasol missed his fifth straight game with a sprained left ankle, and won't play Monday night when the teams meet again in Oakland in a possible playoff preview. Golden State's Mikael Pietrus sat out the game due to a strained groin.
Ellis made two foul shots with three minutes remaining to snap a 101-101 tie, and a jumper by Davis 30 seconds later gave the Warriors a four-point lead. They were on top the rest of the way.
Turiaf scored five straight points to tie the game at 95 with 6:48 remaining. The Lakers had trailed 75-49 in the opening minute of the third quarter. Bryant made two free throws with 5:08 left to give the Lakers a 99-97 lead - their first since the middle of the first quarter. But Los Angeles wouldn't lead again.
Bryant was quick to credit Jackson and the Warriors.
"We had our opportunities. Stephen just made a couple big 3s," Bryant said. "They're really good at what they do -- great individual players they can go to every night. It takes you a while to get used to defending them."
Jackson said the outcome might have been different a year ago under similar circumstances.
"Calls weren't going our way, they were hitting shots and we were missing shots," he said. "But this team wants it bad. We respect the Lakers, they're a great team and they're having a great year. But we just wanted this game because we needed it more than they did."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson pointed to his team's 14 first-half turnovers as a key to the game.
"We had a large gap to make up in that third quarter, probably took a lot of energy out of us to get there, but we just couldn't make a stop down the stretch," he said.
After a 3-pointer by Harrington gave Golden State its 26-point lead, the Lakers suddenly got hot, going on a 32-9 run to draw within three points. Bryant had 11 points, Fisher added 10 and Odom scored six during the spurt. The Warriors scored the last three points of the third quarter to make it 87-81.
Ellis had nine points during an 18-8 run to start the second quarter that gave Golden State a 52-38 lead, and the Warriors scored the last 13 points of the period for their 23-point lead at halftime, prompting many in the capacity crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center to boo the Lakers off the court.
The 72 points matched Golden State's high for a half this season, and were the most allowed by the Lakers in a half.
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