With Scoring Splurge, Bryant Is Rebounding

After the last three-point basket had fallen and the final moments of an 81-point game had been tucked under history’s wing, the question seemed to arrive naturally: Was Kobe Bryant back?

Laker fans have hoped for it, TV executives and a major shoe company have banked on it, and after a month-long scoring spree, Bryant’s popularity seems to be on the uptick after bottoming out with a felony sexual-assault charge and the admission in December 2003 of an extramarital affair.

Fans chanted his name Sunday night at Staples Center, mixed with a chorus of “M-V-P,” as the Laker All-Star set a franchise record against the Toronto Raptors -- a single-game effort surpassed only by Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance for the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pa., in March 1962.

While fans marveled at Bryant’s achievement, NBA legends and current players weighed in Monday with both support and criticism as his play continued to snare national headlines.

The corporate world, meanwhile, has been watching Bryant from afar, even after the criminal charge was dropped in September 2004. Bryant will be the focus next month of a TV commercial sponsored by Nike, one of the few heavy hitters still in his lineup.

“I don’t know if we’d call this a renaissance, but I think he’s certainly coming back to life both on and off the court,” said Paul Swangard of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “He may never get back to where his potential was two or three years ago but there was always the sense that he could rebuild some of that equity and it’s clear he’s well on his way.”

For Bryant, public adoration in recent years has had conditions attached. Even as the Lakers engaged the city by winning NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002, detractors pointed to continual bickering involving Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and some blamed Bryant for causing O’Neal to be traded to the Miami Heat in July 2004.

(With O’Neal taking the initiative, the two patched things up before a Heat game in Los Angeles last week.)

Bryant, 27, also shouldered much of the blame for the Lakers’ 34-48 record last season, and this month’s issue of GQ magazine, citing comments by “peers,” calls him the fifth most-hated athlete in pro sports -- a few spots behind suspended football star Terrell Owens and recalcitrant slugger Barry Bonds.

Bryant is in the midst of a torrid offensive stretch, averaging 43.3 points over a 15-game span that began with a 62-point effort Dec. 20 against Dallas. As enthralling as some of the performances have been, some fans and commentators have questioned his commitment to team play.

A day after the Lakers’ 122-104 victory, Bryant’s 81 points remained the talk of the sports world, inspiring both awe and disdain.

Hall of Fame forward Larry Bird, who played for the Boston Celtics when Michael Jordan scored 63 against them in a 1986 playoff game, tuned in about the time Bryant scored his 60th point.

“That’s wild,” Bird told the Indianapolis Star. “That is really wild. That’s a lot of points, I’m telling you. There’s no question how good he is, but when you start throwing numbers around like that, it’s unbelievable. It would be hard to believe if you didn’t know it was true.”

Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley, who guided the Lakers to championships in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988, downplayed the feat.

“Anybody who’s got the kind of energy to try to hoist up [nearly] 70 shots is going to score a lot of points,” Riley told reporters in Miami, referring to Bryant’s 66 field-goal and free-throw attempts. “It’s remarkable, the execution and the efficiency, but we’ve got a lot of guys in this league, if they took 70 shots, they’d score a lot of points.”

Heat forward Antoine Walker, a 10-year league veteran, spoke ominously of what might await Bryant.

“I think with the 81 now, no other team or other players will let that happen,” he told reporters. “Now guys will foul out trying to stop him from doing that. If someone gets 81 on me, I’m going to clothesline him.”

O’Neal declined to comment. “He told us to get him 50 shots,” Walker said, suggesting that O’Neal was fully aware of Bryant’s display.

Bryant’s shooting ability has made him enormously wealthy. He is in the second year of a seven-year, $136.4-million contract with the Lakers. Nike signed him to a five-year, $45-million endorsement deal in June 2003 -- six months before assault charges were brought -- and has gradually resumed marketing him.

Bryant’s appearance in a two-page Nike ad in Sports Illustrated last July marked his re-emergence as a national celebrity endorser, and company representatives met with him as recently as two weeks ago at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., the day before the Lakers played the Portland Trail Blazers.

Nike will introduce its new Bryant signature shoe, the Zoom Kobe I, with a TV commercial on Feb. 9.

Nike has reason to gradually push forward and try to profit from a costly investment, but other companies might not be as willing, experts say.

“There are still categories that are probably not going to want to attach their name to Kobe” even if he rekindles interest and excitement, Swangard said. “ ... It’s no accident that a company like Nike that wants to target kids with their basketball shoes would be on board, whereas family-consumer brands that are more like McDonald’s and Sprite are probably still a little reticent to come back into the fold.”

An NBA marketing executive said that Bryant’s popularity “continues to climb.”

“There’s been heightened demand from the late night and morning talk shows as well as from fans seeking Kobe merchandise,” said Mike Bass, the league’s vice president of marketing communications.

Bryant’s No. 8 was the fifth-best selling player jersey in figures released last month by the league, and a commemorative No. 81 jersey will be put on sale this week, Bass said.

Bryant can also be key to TV ratings, as apparently seen in a spike in Sunday’s FSN West audience as word spread about his 55-point second half. The rating for the telecast was a 3.2 with a 5 share. The season average for Laker games on FSN West is a 1.4 rating with a 3 share.

Within the Laker family, the responses mixed flattery with words of wisdom and warning.

Owner Jerry Buss, who watches almost all home games from his luxury suite but rarely makes post-game visits to the locker room, stopped by to congratulate Bryant and compared his performance to “watching a miracle unfold.”

Coach Phil Jackson, a share-the-ball proponent who has won nine championships in 14 seasons as an NBA coach, complimented Bryant’s effort but noted that “it’s not exactly the way you want to have a team win a game.”

Tex Winter, a longtime Jackson aide and the architect of the team-sharing triangle offense, also combined a compliment with caution.

“It was quite an exhibition,” Winter said. “It’s what the fans love. I don’t think you can win a championship playing that way and so, consequently, I would be concerned about that. But it was a great victory and I don’t want to take anything away from Kobe because it was one of the greatest I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of exhibitions.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the league’s all-time leading scorer and a Laker special assistant coach, said there was no comparing Bryant’s effort to Elgin Baylor’s former team record of 71 points in November 1960 against New York.

“Elgin did it without three-point lines. His game was attacking the hoop and hitting jumpers inside 20 feet,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

“Kobe’s range is unreal, and he does it his way. It was a real treat. His ability to shoot from long range and also attack the hoop, split the defense and get in close for opportunities near the basket is unique. He’s made a niche for himself and he deserves it.”

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Times staff writers Greg Johnson and Larry Stewart contributed to this report.