Lakers Get Hard-Nosed Victory at Milwaukee : Pro basketball: Jones suffers a broken nose but L.A. regroups to beat Bucks, 109-105.

First, there was Eddie Jones’ broken nose, bringing him within eight of Jerry West’s franchise record. Then, as if that sight wasn’t enough for one night, Marty Conlon and his awkward shot took the floor in the fourth quarter, rekindling bad Laker memories.

Given the opportunity to deliver one final cringe-inducing moment, however, the Lakers avoided the horror. They did lose an 11-point lead at the start of the final period, but recovered, despite Conlon making another bid for the Hall of Fame, and beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-105, Tuesday before 14,488 at the Bradley Center.

With Corie Blount back in Southern California following the death of his grandmother and Jones and his rearranged nose out the last 3 1/2 quarters, the Lakers basically had 10 players. They’ll have to do the same tonight at Indiana, after Jones returns to Los Angeles to have his nose examined.

That made it more than a difficult victory after two days off against an opponent that may again participate in the NBA lottery. It made for a confidence builder.

“I think it can help,” Coach Del Harris said. “This is twice on the road trip that the game almost got away from us in the fourth quarter and we held on to win it. The more times you can go into a pressure situation and survive it, it makes you better.

“That was a strong performance the last three or four minutes, to come back and win when everything was going against us. The momentum, the crowd. Just the whole situation.”

Just Conlon.

To everyone else, he is a 6-foot-10 journeyman with stints with five NBA teams and another in the CBA in four-plus seasons. To the Lakers, Michael Jordan.

Last season, in the Bucks’ home opener, Conlon stole some of the spotlight from freshly signed No. 1 pick Glenn Robinson by scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half, stealing the ball from Nick Van Exel for the key turnover and then being fouled with 11.8 seconds left. He made both free throws and Milwaukee won by a point.

This season, he came off the bench in the fourth quarter and scored 17 points, on six of 10 unsightly shots, in the 12 minutes. He made outside shots. He got inside. He started on the post, got the ball and stepped back for a fade-away--most all with a release that has his right elbow so far out from his body that he looks like Joe Morgan at the plate.

“Ugly,” Van Exel said. “Real ugly. Gets the job done, though.”

Said Harris: “I want to know why Marty Conlon is not on the all-star ballot.”

Conlon’s offensive spark brought the Bucks from a 87-76 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to a lead 105-103 cushion with 1:33 remaining. That’s when the Lakers came up with their response.

It started with Anthony Peeler’s three-point shot for the lead with 1:18 to go, then a free throw by Van Exel at 15.4, the last of his game-high 24 points in his homecoming. When Milwaukee’s Vin Baker missed a chance to tie as his 10-footer with five seconds left went in and out, the Lakers were in the clear.

Peeler provided the final margin with two free throws with 3.4 seconds left. That gave him 14 points off the bench in a tune-up for the start tonight against the Pacers, and maybe longer.

Jones broke his nose when Baker came down with an inadvertent elbow after grabbing a rebound. He was in obvious agony, got to the bench and buried his face in a towel, then soon went to the locker room.

“It was excruciating,” Jones said. “At first, it was like a burst of sharp pain. The pain was unbelievable. I had to ball myself up to deal with the pain.”

Playing Friday against Sacramento at the Forum is a possibility, but no one can say for sure now. Whenever the return does come, it will be with a mask.

“I want to play,” Jones said. “If the doctors say I can go, I’ll go.”

Besides, it could be worse.

“I didn’t look like Jerry West,” he said. “But I looked pretty bad.”