It wasn't quite 0.4, but Derek Fisher's shot was just in time.

The veteran Lakers point guard took a pass from Kobe Bryant and drained a three-pointer from the wing with 3.1 seconds left, giving his team a slice of redemption against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at Staples Center.

Fisher's three-pointer was the only shot from beyond the arc that the Lakers made; they finished one for 10 during a game that had some rough pockets of play, including a seven-point third quarter for the Lakers.

Dallas' Vince Carter missed a three-pointer at the buzzer while being defended by Metta World Peace.

Mavericks guard Jason Terry had tied the score at 70-70 with nine seconds left on a one-handed floater in the lane. The Lakers had a chance to extend a two-point lead on their previous possession, but Kobe Bryant missed a jump shot.

Fisher has developed a knack for game-winning shots, having beaten among others the San Antonio Spurs in a 2004 playoffs series on a jumper with four-tenths of a second left.

Fisher was also instrumental Monday night during a game-changing push earlier in the quarter, scoring six points during a 10-0 run that turned a three-point deficit into a 66-59 lead for the Lakers. Fisher finished with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Bryant finished with 14 points, ending his run of four consecutive games with at least 40 points. Bryant missed 15 of 22 shots, symbolic of a team that made only 38.2% of its shots overall.

Andrew Bynum was a force for the Lakers, getting 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points for Dallas, which also struggled to make shots, finishing 35% from the field. Lamar Odom had 10 points in his return to Staples Center. 

Mavericks 51, Lakers 46 (end of third quarter)

Forget about 40 points. Kobe Bryant has some work to do just to reach double figures.

The Lakers star's struggles continued in the third quarter, when he went scoreless while missing all six shots. He has only eight points on four-of-15 shooting.

Lakers 99, Suns 83 (final)

Whoever puts together the Kobe Bryant season highlight package will get plenty of mileage out of the fourth quarter of the Lakers' triumph over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday at Staples Center.

Bryant faked out Grant Hill on the wing and drove around him for a two-handed dunk that gave the Lakers a nine-point lead.

PHOTOS: Lakers vs. Suns

Bryant then one-upped himself on the Lakers' next possession, taking an alley-oop pass from Matt Barnes for a reverse dunk that had fans roaring for a few minutes as Phoenix took a timeout.

It was a night of unforgettable plays for Bryant, who finished with a season-high 48 points on 18-for-31 shooting as the Lakers improved to 7-1 at Staples Center.

Pau Gasol logged a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds and Andrew Bynum added 12 points, but it was mostly Bryant who was a constant pain for the Suns. Bryant made a couple of pullup jumpers and a pair of free throws in the final two minutes, helping him reach the highest point total by an NBA player this season.

Former Laker Shannon Brown had a nice spurt early in the fourth quarter, making three baskets to help Phoenix pull to within a point. The former Laker finished with 11 points, the first time in five games this season he has reached double figures and the Suns have lost.

The next challenge won't be as easy for the Lakers, who go on the road to play Utah on Wednesday in the second part of a back-to-back situation. The Lakers are 0-3 on the road this season, including a bad loss to Sacramento in their second game.

Maybe small forward won't be a black hole of production for the Lakers after all.

Matt Barnes had his second consecutive strong game, collecting 15 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two key fourth-quarter blocks to help the Lakers pull away from the Memphis Grizzlies.

After the Grizzlies had closed the deficit to 78-74 on a pull-up jumper by O.J. Mayo, Barnes blocked a shot by the former USC standout and then made a layup to extend the Lakers' lead. Barnes later blocked a shot by Marreese Speights that led to a breakaway by Kobe Bryant. Bryant was fouled on the play but missed both free throws.

Bryant scored 26 points on 11-for-22 shooting but made only one of five three-pointers and three of six free throws. The Lakers had five players score in double figures, with Andrew Bynum (15), Pau Gasol (13) and Steve Blake (13) joining Bryant and Barnes.

PHOTOS: Lakers vs. Warriors

Rudy Gay scored 19 points and Speights added 17 for the Grizzlies, who couldn't fully capitalize on the Lakers' 27 turnovers.

The Lakers concluded a stretch of 10 games in 15 days to open the season with a 6-4 record, not too bad considering that only Oklahoma City has played as many games and the Clippers have played only six games.

Lakers 78, Grizzlies 68 (end of third quarter)

Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant provided a couple of reminders that the Clippers aren't the only team that resides in Lob City.

Whatever treatment Kobe Bryant is receiving on his injured right wrist, it's working.

Bryant put on another dazzling display, scoring 26 of his 39 points in the second half on an array of turnaround jumpers and driving layups to help the Lakers hold off the pesky Warriors.

Bryant made 13 of 28 shots and 12 of 14 free throws, including a pair with 30 seconds left, as the Lakers (5-4) improved to 5-1 at Staples Center.

PHOTOS: Lakers vs. Warriors

The Lakers also got a boost from Matt Barnes, the often erratic small forward who scored 16 points on seven-for-nine shooting but committed two quick fourth-quarter fouls to help the Warriors close to within 85-82 on a Kwame Brown free throw.

Pau Gasol (16 points) responded with a pair of jumpers and Barnes made a driving layup as part of a 6-0 run that put the game temporarily back in the Lakers' grasp. Barnes fouled out with 2 minutes 22 seconds left, and Lakers Coach Mike Brown went with a two-point-guard lineup that included both Steve Blake and Derek Fisher. That turned out to be fortuitous when Fisher made a key steal.

The Lakers made enough free throws over the final minute to hold on.

David Lee scored 15 points and Klay Thompson had 14 points on six-for-eight shooting off the bench for Golden State, which lost its fourth consecutive game.

Lakers 67, Warriors 58 (end of third quarter)

Order was restored inside Staples Center in the third quarter when the Lakers used a couple of big runs to wipe out what had been an eight-point deficit.

Lakers 108, Rockets 99 (final)

Kobe Bryant was back to being Kobe Bryant but in an MVP, can't-live-without-him kind of way.

Bryant took plenty of shots again Tuesday night at Staples Center but made nearly half of them, including four key baskets on the way to a 37-point performance that helped  the Lakers thwart the Houston Rockets during a 108-99 victory.

After re-entering the game midway through the final quarter, Bryant made a pair of long turnaround jumpers. Then, after Houston had shaved a 10-point deficit to four, Bryant converted a three-point play after making a short turnaround jumper in which he was fouled.

Bryant later made another jumper and finished 14 for 29 from the field, including two for seven from three-point range, as the Lakers (4-3) edged back above .500. It was quite a departure from his previous two games, when he combined to make 12 of 46 shots.

Lakers center Andrew Bynum overwhelmed his smaller Rockets counterparts with 21 points and 22 rebounds and Pau Gasol had 14 points against the team he almost joined during training camp before a three-way trade was nixed by NBA Commissioner David Stern. Bynum helped seal the victory when he took a full-court outlet pass from Matt Barnes for a dunk.

The Lakers also got a big fourth-quarter boost from backup point guard Steve Blake, who made a three-pointer and a jumper and delivered a bounce pass to Troy Murphy that set up a three-pointer. Blake had 11 points.

Lakers 99, Knicks 82 (final)

It wasn't the usual suspects who saved the Lakers in the final minutes.

The Lakers reserves scored 15 of the team's 19 points in the fourth quarter to help secure a 99-82 victory over the New York Knicks on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Guard Steve Blake made a pair of three-pointers in the quarter, Matt Barnes added a dunk and another three-pointer and Troy Murphy buried a jumper.

PHOTOS: Lakers vs. Knicks at Staples Center

Kobe Bryant scored all of his 28 points in the first three quarters and Gasol made the only basket by the starters in the final quarter, finishing off his 16-point evening. Bryant and Gasol were removed from the game with 2 minutes 8 seconds left.

The Lakers bench finished with a combined 40 points, with Blake (11 points) finishing in double figures and Metta World Peace (nine) and Jason Kapono (nine) coming close.

Carmelo Anthony had 27 points for the Knicks, who lost both ends of a back-to-back situation after falling to Golden State on Wednesday night. The Knicks were outclassed on offense and defense and would have been blown out even worse had they not made 34 of 41 free throws against the Lakers.

Mavericks 122, Lakers 86 (final)

In a game not befitting the long and successful career of Coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers were embarrassed by the Dallas Mavericks, 122-86, and swept out of the Western Conference semifinals, four game to none.

It wasn’t that the Lakers played poorly -- although credit the Mavericks with an unbelievable three-point shooting game -- it was the total lack of class they showed down the stretch. Both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were ejected for cheap shots in separate incidents in the fourth quarter.

The game was essentially over at halftime, although the Lakers were able to cut their deficit to 19 points in the third quarter. The Mavericks outscored the Lakers, 36-16, in the second quarter.

But, in the end, the Mavericks were unbelievable in shooting threes. They were 20 of 32 with Jason Terry making nine of 10. Both tied playoff records. And Terry isn’t even a starter.

With four minutes to play, both coaches were playing reserves. Of course, in the Mavericks' case, it was the second-teamers who won the game. They outscored the Lakers bench, 85-37. In fact, the Mavericks reserves outscored the starters.

Terry was the game’s leading scorer with 32 points. Jose Barea had 22 points and Peja Stojakovic added 21. None of the three are starters.

The Lakers were led by Kobe Bryant with 17 points. Shannon Brown added 15.

It was a most unmemorable finish to Jackson’s career, since he has stated he is retiring after this season.

It seemed as if the Lakers retired even before the end of this game.

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The Last Stand looked more like the Last Wobble.

History is standing between the Lakers and a second-round exit at the hands of the Mavericks after Dallas stunned them, 98-92, on Friday night in Dallas.

No NBA team has ever managed to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs to win a series.

The Lakers led by eight points with less than seven minutes remaining but the Mavericks, boosted by a stellar fourth-quarter showing from Peja Stojakovic, kept chipping away at the lead.

“We didn’t panic,” said the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki, who had a game-high 32 points and collected nine rebounds.

Stojakovic had 15 points off the bench, including three three-pointers. Eleven of those points came in the fourth quarter. 

Jason Terry added 23 more points off the bench for Dallas.

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Lakers have usually gotten out of trouble

This Lakers season has been filled with highs and lows and everyone thought the ultimate valley was losing to Cleveland before the all-star break.

But Wednesday night at Staples Center the Lakers hit a new low by losing to the Dallas Mavericks 93-81 to fall behind in the best-of-seven series, 0-2. Unlike Monday’s loss, it wasn’t even a good game. The Mavericks didn’t play that good of a game either.

Even the Staples Center crowd had seen enough as they started leaving with about three minutes to play.

Can the Lakers dig themselves out of this hole with the next two games in Dallas? If Wednesday was an indication, certainly not.

Let’s look at the shooting stats: Ron Artest (4 of 10), Pau Gasol (5 of 12), Derek Fisher (2 of 7), Lamar Odom (3 of 12) and Steve Blake (0 of 5). Andrew Bynum was bright spot making 8 of 11 (18 points) and grabbing 13 rebounds. Kobe Bryant finished with 23 points on 8 of 20 shooting.

Dirk Nowitzi was the leading scorer for the Mavericks with 24 points. Shawn Marion had 14 and reserve Jose Barea had 12.

If you are a Lakers fan, you are officially at Defcon Four.

Mavericks 96, Lakers 94 (final)

After losing Game 1 in the last series against the New Orleans Hornets, the Lakers were certainly looking for a better start Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

But the Lakers built a 16-point lead only to lose, 96-94, putting themselves in the same hole they started the last series.

The final 1:20 went like this:

--Kobe Bryant hits a two to give the Lakers a 94-81 lead with 59 seconds to go.

--Dirk Nowitzki makes his shot and Dallas is down by one with 40 seconds to play.

--Bryant loses the ball with 20 seconds to play and it is the Mavericks' game to win.

--On the inbounds pass Pau Gasol fouls Nowitzki, who makes both free throws and the Mavericks lead, 95-94, with 19.5 seconds to play.

--Jason Kidd commits a non-shooting foul against Bryant with 8.8 seconds to play.

--Gasol loses the ball after the inbounds play and fouls Kidd, who makes one of two free throws, leaving the Lakers with 3.1 seconds to tie the score or win the game.

--Bryant misses a three-pointer at the buzzer off a well-designed inbounds play that gets him a clean look from the top of the three-point area.

Bryant was the game’s leading scorer with 36 points. Gasol added 15.

Nowitzki had 28 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Mavericks.

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