KOBE BRYANT A LEGEND IN THE MAKING.

Casey O.

Bryant scores 53 points as Lakers defeat Rockets in double overtime

By Kevin Ding

The Orange County Register

(MCT)

LOS ANGELES - One of the longest, wildest nights Staples Center has ever seen ended with the one guy who has been rocking this house since its 1999 inception still standing.

Or more accurately, still rising high above everyone.

Kobe Bryant scored 53 points in 54 minutes as the Lakers pulled out a 112-101 double-overtime victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

The Lakers started with a nightmarish 10-point first quarter and finished both regulation and the first overtime with Bryant missing potential winning jumpers.

But Bryant opened the second overtime still with the hops to shimmy-shake Yao Ming then execute a twisting dunk.

Bryant scored seven points to Houston's two in the second overtime.

And when Houston missed its final shot, it was Bryant soaring above everyone to own the rebound.

"We really had to go to Kobe tonight to get accomplished what we had to do to get a win," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who as early as the start of the second quarter moved Bryant to the scoring wing spot and ditched the triangle offense before halftime to run repeated pick-and-rolls for Bryant.

Said Bryant: "That confirmed for me that my legs are back to be able to dunk like that in the second overtime. You're happy but tired after a game like that. As funny as it sounds, even when we were down 20, I felt the game was ours."

Bryant's efforts more than offset the best effort of Yao, who had 35 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks in 49 minutes.

But Yao saw his last shot of the game in the second overtime cleanly blocked by Lakers center Kwame Brown.

The Rockets definitely tired after halftime, when they led by 18 points. They had played to the wire in Oakland the night before, losing on a Baron Davis three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left against Golden State.

Yao has been notorious for his poor conditioning in his career, but has improved it.

Both Yao and Bryant found the strength to hit key shots late in the first overtime. But whereas Yao ruled the game right from the start - blocking Vladimir Radmanovic's layup just moments after tipoff - Bryant had the greater perseverance.

"At some point," Jackson said, "he's going to find a way."

Bryant shot 17 of 38 from the field, 5 of 8 from three-point range and 14 of 16 from the foul line. He also had 10 rebounds, eight assists and five turnovers.

Bryant also got slightly more help than Yao, with Luke Walton tying his career high with nine assists, Smush Parker scoring a season-high 17 points and Brian Cook delivering key plays late. Walton was playing with a sprained left wrist.

Houston played the Lakers for the second time in four days, both times without Tracy McGrady (back spasms) and both times losing narrowly.

Before the game, Jackson had said the injury loss of Lamar Odom until January wasn't as severe for the Lakers because Bryant has largely returned to form after missing training camp in the wake of knee surgery.

"He has taken a big leap in his conditioning and strength," Jackson said.

Bryant proceeded to prove it. His swished fadeaway jumper midway through the second overtime to close the door on Houston and still had the energy to break out his arms-extended, plane-like celebration.

HACK-A-KWAME

In a flashback to the Shaquille O'Neal era, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy played "Hack-a-Kwame" to prey on Brown's poor foul shooting (Brown came into the game shooting 42.4 percent, 25 of 59).

Brown made just 1 of 4 foul shots against the strategy to help Houston forge overtime.

But it also confused the Rockets later when Houston guard Luther Head didn't know that fouling Brown away from the ball within the final 2:00 of regulation results in a foul shot for any opposing player (Bryant hit the free throw with 59.1 seconds left) and possession maintained.

Brown was the Lakers' saving grace against Yao at the defensive end, but frittered away several chances late in the game to convert on offense and came off the court at the end throwing his headband and eventually giving a rueful laugh.

SLOWEST START

The Lakers' previous low in points in a first quarter this season was 19 - and they barely got half of that in the first Friday night; Houston led, 29-10, after one period. The Lakers shot 3 of 15 from the field with nine turnovers.

Previously the Lakers' bane as long as Jackson has been their coach, the third quarter has now become the hot spot for the team. The Lakers outscored Houston, 25-13, in the third; they had six steals and didn't commit a turnover to get back into the game.

Lakers are missing something

 
L.A. puts up a strong effort for three quarters without Odom, then the Mavericks pull away for a 110-101 victory. Bryant scores 33.
 
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
December 14, 2006
 
 DALLAS — The Lakers kept it whisper-close for a while, just enough for hushed Dallas Mavericks fans to shift uncomfortably in their seats going into the fourth quarter.

Then came the final 12 minutes, and a reminder of how tough things could get without Lamar Odom.

On the day they found out their second-best player would be out four to eight weeks because of a sprained ligament in his right knee, the Lakers hung with Dallas longer than expected before reality caught up with them in a 110-101 loss Wednesday at American Airlines Center.

It was too much basketball — the second night of a back-to-back situation — with too little time to adjust to life without Odom, their second-leading scorer and top facilitator.

Kobe Bryant had 33 points, but only Luke Walton had more than 12 points, and it took him 13 shots to score 13.

The Lakers were able to win Tuesday in Houston after Odom went down in the first few minutes, but he was definitely missed against Dallas.

"You didn't have to watch tonight's game to know it," Walton said. "It's one thing to do it one game. We've got to be able to do it every night. We weren't all there tonight."

Earlier in the day, after Odom was examined by team doctor Steve Lombardo in Los Angeles, the Lakers announced he would miss at least four weeks. Full recovery from a sprained medial collateral ligament can take up to eight weeks.

Odom had been averaging 17.5 points, and he led the team with 8.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists a game.

"He brings a lot of mobility after he does rebound the ball," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "He runs, pushes the ball up and distributes it well on the move…. We'll miss that."

The Lakers missed it against the Mavericks, taking only 31 rebounds to the Mavericks' 39, and collecting only 14 assists to 23 for the Mavericks.

Despite it all, the Lakers trailed, 83-81, going into the fourth after another blistering third quarter, this one punctuated by 34 Lakers points.

But the Mavericks continued their torrid shooting — 61.1% in the fourth quarter, 60% for the game — to move away from the Lakers.

Mavericks fans reveled in the Lakers' loss, particularly loving it when a cartoon image of Dirk Nowitzki popped up on the scoreboard to sing a quick tune: "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Lakers fans…. It takes more than Zen in order to win, so victory belongs to the Mavs."

The Mavericks got the victory, but the Lakers got a split on their two-game trip, not bad at all considering they went almost all of the Houston game without Odom.

They now return home for games against Houston and Washington before hitting the road again, this time for a longer test — six games, including Christmas in Miami.

If Jackson gets his way, the Lakers will put up better efforts earlier in games. They trailed Dallas at the end of the first quarter, 33-21.

"I thought we were weak-minded the first half," Jackson said. "We didn't fight through picks. Guys were getting mismatched on players they shouldn't have been playing because we just didn't make the effort. Some of that was miscommunication. That'll happen when you have new people in the lineup like we did tonight."

Vladimir Radmanovic started in Odom's spot and scored 11 points in 18 minutes. Jordan Farmar showed some fire in the first half and finished with 12 points. Farmar played 23 minutes, only two fewer than starter Smush Parker, who also scored 12 points.

Bryant shot well, making nine of 18 shots, and played 44 minutes, a likely sign of the next month, or longer, without Odom.

"He may have to take on a little bigger load than I'd like him to right now," Jackson said beforehand. "We'll find somebody else to step in there and hopefully provide the spark for us."

If not, it's up to Bryant.

"I'm ready to do whatever it takes," Bryant said. "I'm not in tip-top shape to be able to go 48 minutes full-bore, but I'm ready to do what it takes, as is everyone else."

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
December 11, 2006 

Apparently, the Lakers are at the level of San Antonio … and then some.

Just a few days ago, after a lifeless home loss to New Orleans, Coach Phil Jackson dismissed Sunday's game against the Spurs, saying the Lakers weren't ready for such a well-defined, championship-tested team.

He couldn't really be blamed for his observation at the time, but then came the game itself, as Jackson's words — motivational, evidently — melted away in a 106-99 Lakers victory.

Kobe Bryant returned from a one-game absence to score 34 points on 13-for-25 shooting, and seemingly every one of the nine Lakers who played had a timely point, assist, rebound or blocked shot in front of a Staples Center crowd that hadn't demonstrated such conviction since last season's playoffs.

Lamar Odom had 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, Kwame Brown had a second half suitable for framing, and the friendly portion of the Lakers' schedule — 16 of their first 20 games at Staples Center — ended emphatically.

"This team does rally and play animated games when they're called upon to play them," Jackson said. "I'm not surprised by their performance at all."

It came against a team that had beaten three previous opponents by an average of 112-82. It happened in the third quarter, when the Spurs committed a whopping nine turnovers and their vaunted defense was blistered for 37 points.

The Spurs came in with a league-best 8-2 road record but left with a surprising meltdown after halftime, an inability to stop Bryant and, finally, without the league's top record, an early-season honor now held by the Utah Jazz.

"I thought the Lakers' pressure was great in the second half and I thought we folded under that pressure, absolutely folded under their pressure. End of story," Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said.

The Lakers, now 14-6, go on the road for eight of their next 10 and, more telling, 22 of their next 32.

"It's going to be fun," Bryant said of consecutive road games this week in Houston and Dallas.

Fun? Hard to argue after the Lakers spilled out of an upbeat locker room.

"I knew it was in this team," said forward Luke Walton, who continued his early-season push with 17 points. "Tonight we finally put a game together. Everyone had each other's backs, we were all talking, the energy level was high and people were making plays."

There wasn't much to say after a one-sided loss Wednesday to New Orleans, Jackson catching the mood with a somber assessment.

"We're not in competition with San Antonio yet," he said at the time. "This team isn't at that level. We haven't shown that we can play at that level in a game."

Then came Sunday, and the Lakers furiously bumped up a level or two, drawing first blood this season in a rivalry that has featured jabs and words lobbed to and fro over the years.

Jackson once dismissed San Antonio as a land of tourists and conventioneers, while Popovich compared the eventual breakup of the Lakers to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Last season, Jackson called Spurs forward Bruce Bowen "Edward Scissorhands" because of his aggressive defense.

Jackson made sure to mention Bowen again when asked before the game how many minutes Bryant would get. Bryant did not play Friday against Atlanta because of a sprained right ankle.

"We'll have to watch that, especially with Bowen," Jackson said. "Bowen is a tenacious defender and will occasionally stick his leg underneath a player when he's up in the air. If you watch tape as much as I do, you can verify that."

Bryant, who sat out Saturday's practice, looked healthy enough with a one-handed fastbreak dunk after a length-of-the-court feed from Odom toward the end of the third quarter.

 "I knew if he went off and did that, he was feeling just fine," Jackson said.

Brown also looked healthy in the second half after a hushed start that included one rebound, one assist and no points in the first half.

Brown finished with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

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