NO MIDDLE GROUND FOR THE LAKERS LAKERS 108, G. STATE 103.

Byline: Ross Siler

There has to be a middle ground for the Lakers, between Kobe Bryant taking over or getting everyone involved, between Luke Walton missing every shot before scoring the game's two biggest baskets, between winning at home and losing on the road.

All the same, the Lakers had to like where they stood Monday night after beating the Golden State Warriors 108-103 at Staples Center to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Bryant scored 42 points -- 14 in the fourth quarter -- on the one-year anniversary of his 81-point game against Toronto. It was Walton, though, who probably made history with the greatest 2-for-10 shooting game the NBA has ever seen.

Walton missed his first eight shots of the game and was so tentative in the third quarter he passed the ball to teenage center Andrew Bynum with a tick left on the 24-second clock rather than put up a shot himself.

But Walton came back in the fourth quarter and hustled his way to two baskets in the last two minutes. The first came after Maurice Evans had his drive to the basket blocked and Walton chased down the loose ball and pushed in a layup.

On the next possession, Walton came up with the offensive rebound after Bryant missed a 3-pointer. He tossed in a shot with 1:11 remaining as the Lakers went in front for good 103-101.

``I had a long break from the third (quarter) to the fourth, and I kind of settled down a little bit and got back under control,'' Walton said. ``I got a couple bounces that came my way, and once I put the ball through the hole once, it kind of got a little easier.''

Walton finished with eightpoints, seven rebounds and five assists, even though he couldn't hit a shot the first 29 minutes he played.

``He was carrying his heart on his sleeve out there,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. ``He thought everybody was going to cry for him for a second.

``He couldn't get anything to go in for him, and then he got a couple baskets at the end, which kind of redeemed his night.

``That was good. We always say to players: `Don't let your offense affect your game,' but it's hard not to in this game.''

Jackson showed confidence in bringing Walton back with 5:51 left. Golden State, meanwhile, lost guard Baron Davis to a calf injury with 4:44 to play.

Davis' replacement, Sarunas Jasikevicius, had two turnovers in the final 90 seconds.

The Lakers improved to 19-4 at home after disappointing losses to Dallas and New Orleans on the road.

They beat Golden State for the sixth consecutive time since Jackson's return as coach and overcame a season-high 24 turnovers.

``We're a young team and we have ups and downs,'' Walton said. ``But once we start going down, we correct it quickly, and we get back on track.''

If everything goes accordingly, the Lakers played their final game without injured starters Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown. The two will practice today with the hope of returning Friday against Charlotte.

Jackson said he was glad the injuries didn't prove ``insurmountable'' but said of bringing Odom and Brown back: ``It's an adjustment period obviously for us. We hope we can meld them together.''

Bryant returned with 9:23 to play and scored nine straight points for the Lakers. He drilled jumpers over Mickael Pietrus and got to the line by drawing a fifth foul on Pietrus. For the night, Bryant went 11 of 22from the field and 16 of 19 at the foul line.

Golden State's Al Harrington, acquired in a trade from Indiana last week, described Bryant as a ``one-man wrecking crew.'' The Lakers trailed by as many as sixpoints in the fourth quarter, with Bryant saying he knew something had to be done.

``I had to kind of take control of the game a little bit,'' Bryant said. ``I couldn't sit back and wait any longer. I had to kind of attack a little bit more.''

It has been all-or-nothing for Bryant in recent games. At oneextreme, Bryant had just three points, all at the foul line, in the first half of Saturday's loss to the Hornets. At the other extreme, Bryant had one assist in 39 minutes Monday.

``There's this either/or we're getting into where either Kobe's like a facilitator or he's going into scoring mode,'' Jackson said. ``It's not quite that way. It's not that cut and dried. He can find his way (to score) out of the offense and also the other players can find their way to score out of the offense.

``A lot of the focus from the media has come about, `Wow, Kobe's really including everybody.' That's what a system offense is all about. It's just part of what we do.''

After ranking among the league's best shooters the first two months, Walton has hit the skids recently. After Monday's game, Walton is shooting just 40.5 percent overall and 23.1percent on 3-pointers in January.

``He looks like he's aiming the ball rather than just shooting it right now,'' Jackson said. ``He's trying to make sure it goes in and doing a lot of things that are structural things you work on in the summertime.

``He'll loosen up. It's just a phase, it's just a slump like a batter goes through, and it'll come back. We have confidence.''

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The Lakers' Kobe Bryant drives around the Warriors' Stephen Jackson in the second period.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer