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The Charlotte Bobcats six-game West Coast road trip came to a heartbreaking end in Los Angeles on Wednesday with a 99-97 loss to the Lakers.

Playing without Gerald Wallace (strained left hamstring), the Bobcats (24-24) gave Los Angeles (38-12) on its home court as Charlotte went for its fourth-straight win over the Lakers at the STAPLES Center.

Led by 30 points from Stephen Jackson and a season high 23 points and 17 rebounds from Nazr Mohammed, Charlotte pushed the Lakers the entire contest before turning it over in the game’s final moments to help secure Los Angeles’ victory.

“We had good effort from our team and we were in position to win and you know it is disappointing to leave without a victory,” said Mohammed. “It would have made a good road trip a great road trip, but they did what they had to do down the stretch and that is what good teams do. We are still growing and that is where we are going to be.”

Trailing 97-94 with 9.7 seconds remaining, Jackson’s inbound pass intended for Raymond Felton was batted away by Jordan Farmar and into the hands of Pau Gasol who found Farmar for a breakaway dunk to put the game away. Flip Murray’s nearly half-court 3-pointer with 1.2 ticks remaining produced the final result.

“I had everybody confused (on the last possession) – that was my fault,” said Bobcats Head Coach Larry Brown. “We had another timeout, but I don’t think anybody really understood what we were trying to do, so that was on me. I told them, ‘I apologize.’ That was just an old coach doing a stupid thing… I thought we needed to shoot a three, and I thought I had four guys out there that could shoot it. We just got a little confused. Things like that happen.”

Brown also knew that the final score should not take away from what this shorthanded squad did at the tail end of the longest road trip of the season. Charlotte held Kobe Bryant to just five points, and despite missing Wallace and having Boris Diaw held scoreless while battling foul trouble all evening, had the chance to send this one into overtime for the third time in four years in Los Angeles.

“Not having Gerald and Tyson and not having to rely on Boris with foul trouble, we did a great job,” said Brown. “They’re a very talented team that’s well coached. That’s why they won a championship. (Lamar) Odom was great down the stretch in particular. But we did a good job – I’m proud of the way they played and we gave ourselves a chance. Again, you have to be pretty darn good to win here.”

Odom led the Lakers with 19 points off the bench, followed by Andrew Bynum (17), Gasol (14), Ron Artest (14) and Shannon Brown (10) in double-digit scoring.

“They have such depth, length and size, but I thought all our big guys did a heck of a job,” said Brown. “But when you get Boris in foul trouble and have to… play some crazy lineups without Gerald, you have to be perfect. We weren’t exactly perfect, but we were pretty darn good.”

Charlotte finished the road trip at 3-3 and now return home after a nearly two-week absence to take on the New Orleans Hornets at 7 p.m. Saturday at Time Warner Cable Arena®.

“We are confident in each other and what we can do as a team,” said Jackson. “Obviously we would be happier if we had won this game, but we are going to stay together and continue to work and take the positive from this game and try to get ready to play at home.”