KOBE FINDS A WILL, A WAY FOR LAKERS LOSING STREAK FINALLY ENDS AT 6 LAKERS 122, BOSTON 96.

Byline: ROSS SILER

Staff Writer

Before he left the locker room after Wednesday's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Kobe Bryant offered the Lakers' only exit strategy from a six-game losing streak, saying, "You have to try to will yourself out of the stretch."

It fell to Bryant to provide the will Friday night as the Lakers broke through for their first win since Feb. 5, beating the Boston Celtics 122-96.

The Lakers led by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter against a Celtics team that has lost 21 of 22 games.

In only 31 minutes, Bryant finished with 38 points - 22 of which came in a spectacular first quarter - connected on 5 of 7 3-pointers, found his teammates to the tune of nine assists and matched a season-high with five steals.

After a long practice Thursday, Bryant summed up how the Lakers could will themselves out of the losing streak, the longest ever for a Phil Jackson-coached team.

"You just have to accept the fact that you're going to go into a game and you're going to win no matter what," Bryant said. "No matter what the circumstances, no matter the injuries, no matter the foul trouble, no matter the shots not going down."

The Lakers were able to hold Boston to just 66 points in the final three quarters and got contributions from Bryant to the last players on the bench.

In fact, they might have sold some programs when seldom-used guards Shammond Williams and Aaron McKie played in the first half. For the Lakers to start playing for one another, Jackson apparently felt the need to play everybody.

All 11 players got in the game and scored for the Lakers. McKie hit a fourth-quarter jumper and finished a baseline drive for his four points. Williams finished with six points and four assists in 19 minutes.

No team knows long losing streaks quite like the Celtics, who ended an 18-game skid with a victory over Milwaukee before the All-Star break. But Boston (13-41) has since lost three games on this Western Conference trip.

The Lakers scored the last nine points of the first half to take a 65-54 lead into the locker room. Bryant helped set the tone on defense as the Lakers forced Paul Pierce into three consecutive turnovers, which Pierce compounded with a technical foul.

On one play, Bryant stripped Pierce at one end, then lobbed a pass to Ronny Turiaf for an alley-oop basket. Bryant came back in the third quarter, connected on a 3-pointer of his own, then found Smush Parker for another two 3-pointers as the Lakers led by 21.

The Lakers fed off Bryant's energy all game. Maurice Evans saved a ball off Ryan Gomes in the third quarter, leading to an Andrew Bynum three-point play. Evans later finished a spectacular alley-oop dunk off a Lamar Odom pass while being fouled.

The Lakers stressed defensive accountability at practice Thursday, then watched as the Celtics broke to an 11-2 lead in the first 2:16.

But Bryant took over the rest of the quarter, hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 22 points, including 13 points in a row.

It was a 180-degree different start than Bryant had in Tuesday's loss to Portland, when he went into halftime having scored all of four points.

The biggest surprise, though, came with Jackson using his binoculars to find two players at the end of the bench.

He brought Williams in for the last 2:16 of the first quarter, then sat Bryant to start the second quarter and paired McKie and Williams in the same backcourt.

McKie had played in only one game this season before Friday.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant drives on Boston's Delonte West in Friday's game.

(2) The Lakers' Lamar Odom, left, and Maurice Evans steal the ball from the Celtics' Paul Pierce.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer