"Before they face the Clippers tonight in what looms as the most intriguing game in the remarkably unremarkable history of the Hallway Series, the Lakers had a little business to handle Friday at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant made it look less like work and more like play when he scored 40-plus points for the third consecutive game in the Lakers' fifth consecutive victory, a 97-92 grind over the Cleveland Cavaliers in front of a sellout crowd of 18,997.

Bryant scored 42 points on 15-for-31 shooting, two nights after he had 40 points in the Lakers' overtime victory over Utah and three nights after he dropped a season-high 48points on Phoenix in a win.

It's his longest scoring binge since he had 40 points or more in five consecutive games in March 2007, when he had four games of 50 or more for a very one-dimensional team.

He was by no means a solo act Friday, however.

Pau Gasol scored 19 points on 9-for-16 shooting and 10rebounds against the undersized Cavaliers, Andrew Bynum had 15 points and 10rebounds and Matt Barnes also scored 15 points.

Derek Fisher added a season-high 10 assists.

Rookie guard Kyrie Irving had 21 points for Cleveland. "