"Mike Brown wasn't overly sentimental about it.

He won everything but a championship in his five seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, got fired and moved on.

There are bigger issues in the world, he said, than an NBA coach losing his job.

Of course, it's easy to put a positive spin on just about anything these days given the way things are going for Brown's Lakers and their superstar.

Kobe Bryant wowed again with 42 points Friday night at Staples Center during the Lakers' 97-92 victory, making Brown a winner in his first game against Cleveland since the Cavaliers fired him after the 2010 season.

Bryant made 15 of 31 shots, including four of seven three-point attempts, continuing a superlative stretch in which he has collected 40 points or more in three consecutive games. It's been a while since Bryant sustained this kind of performance, erupting for five consecutive games with at least 40 points from March 16-25, 2007.

"The shots I was getting, they were in my spots," said Bryant, who noted that his sore right wrist was "getting a lot better" and had served as motivation for his scoring spree.

Bryant's final basket Friday came on a turnaround jumper that gave the Lakers an 89-81 lead with 2 minutes 55 seconds left, providing a comfortable cushion after Cleveland had winnowed a 19-point deficit to three midway through the fourth quarter."