"John Salmons carried the Milwaukee Bucks during the stretch run last season, making a huge difference after arriving in a February trade deadline deal with the Chicago Bulls.

Now the veteran guard is one of the team's leading figures after signing a five-year contract as a free agent in the off-season.

So his recent play bodes well for the Bucks, who have a chance for a winning road trip when they play the team with the league's worst record, the Sacramento Kings, on Thursday night.

The Bucks are coming off a shocking 98-79 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday at the Staples Center. And Salmons played his part with a solid offensive game (20 points, six assists) and gritty defensive work against Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Salmons made a play in the fourth quarter that told everything about the Bucks' effort and determination.

Bryant drove past him and Salmons slipped to the floor, but the Bucks player reached out while sitting and stripped the ball from Bryant.

It added to Bryant's rising frustration and helped fuel a critical 8-0 burst that allowed the Bucks to grab an 85-72 lead with 4:11 remaining.

A few minutes later Bryant screamed at referee Haywoode Workman after being called for charging and was ejected with consecutive technical fouls.

"I think the only thing you can do is really try to make it as tough as possible for him," Salmons said of defending Bryant, the most valuable player of the last two NBA Finals. "Just try to contest everything, try to make everything hard and compete against him.

"He's going to hit tough shots and you just can't get frustrated when he hits those."

Salmons had only five points in 32 minutes at Dallas last week as the Bucks scored a 103-99 victory. Then he came down with a case of back spasms and missed the next game at San Antonio.

He scored 18 points in a home loss to Utah on Saturday but shot just 5 of 15. And he took only one shot and was held scoreless in the first half against Portland on Monday as the Bucks fell far behind in an embarrassing 106-80 defeat."