Inside the locker room

SACRAMENTO -- Here's some of what was said after the Lakers hammered the Sacramento Kings, 122-104, tonight and pulled within one-half game of the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. Remember, the Lakers only have to tie the Cavaliers by season's end since they beat them twice and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Kobe Bryant on the Lakers playing better than in Sunday's win over the Clippers: "Yeah, we played better and closed the game out. The stars didn't have to get off the bench and go back in (the game late in the fourth quarter, as they did Sunday). Our second unit did a good job."

Coach Phil Jackson on the Bench Mob: "I thought their energy was good. Jordan (Farmar) didn't have a great line in terms of scoring, but he did some things: push the ball ahead, changed the pace of the game, got the ball to Pau (Gasol) and Josh (Powell) on the run and we got some easy baskets because of it."

Jackson on the Lakers outscoring the Kings, 40-18, in the second quarter: "Our defense got us started and we got some turnovers and run-outs as a consequence. It changed the momentum of the game. After the first quarter, we talked about giving up too many points and we wanted to settle the game down to where we wanted it."

Pau Gasol on getting Andrew Bynum back soon: "We're getting a player that is important for us back in the rotation and back out there. He has been out for a while, so I don't know how long it is going to take for him to get back into basketball conditioning."