NBA: Lakers bounce back with win over Rockets

The NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers rebounded from a lopsided loss to Oklahoma City with a 109-101 victory over short-handed Houston on Saturday.

Pau Gasol scored a season-high 30 points as the Lakers dealt the Rockets their fourth straight defeat.

"It was real good," Lakers star Kobe Bryant said. "We really wanted to come out and play well especially after the showing we had last night."

But Lakers coach Phil Jackson wasn't as impressed with the victory over a Houston team lacking Kevin Martin and Shane Battier.

The Lakers led by 20 points at the end of the third quarter but let the margin narrow to single digits in the final period.

"I told them I'm not happy with the win, but we won the game," Jackson said. "We get outscored 32-20 in the fourth quarter. You don't want to finish a game like that."

Los Angeles closed the second quarter with a 20-0 scoring run, taking a commanding lead that they never relinquished.

"Those last minutes of the second quarter gave us the lead and gave us momentum to kind of put them away," Gasol said. "I was glad to see that ending of the half because we don't do that very often."

On Friday, the Lakers fell 91-75 to the Thunder. They shot just 39 percent from the field as they posted their fewest points of the season.

Bryant, who had 18 turnovers against Oklahoma City, was one assist short of the Lakers' first triple-double of the season with 17 points 10 rebounds and nine assists. The Lakers had just seven assists total against the Thunder on Friday.