Injured Bryant Feeling Better

Kobe Bryant reported some improvement Wednesday with his jammed pelvis, an injury suffered the night before at Toronto, but the Lakers are still listing him as questionable for tonight against the New Jersey Nets.

The reserve swingman was unsure how the injury happened, only that he started feeling pain late in the third quarter. He came out with 31 seconds remaining, spent a moment bent over near the bench and headed to the locker room with trainer Gary Vitti.

“It shot from my groin up to my abdominal muscle,” he said. “The first thing that came into my mind was [Shaquille O’Neal’s] injury.”

The second thing that was that it wasn’t that bad, Bryant said he felt up to returning against the Raptors.

“I could have,” he said. “But after the game, I was talking to the big fella and he said, ‘That’s the same thing I felt.’ I was like, great.”

There are no indications, though, that Bryant’s injury is anything like the strained abdominal muscle that has plagued O’Neal all season. Wednesday, Bryant did some shooting off to the side as the Lakers practiced, as did Robert Horry, bothered with an upper-respiratory infection. But Horry is expected to start tonight, as usual, one game after his availability was far more uncertain and he responded with 15 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

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The Raptors are the worst team in the Eastern Conference and could finish with the second-fewest wins in the league. And they are a problem for the Lakers.

Both meetings weren’t decided until the fourth quarter, or even late in the fourth quarter. In the first one, Nov. 30 at the Great Western Forum, the Raptors arrived on a 12-game losing streak and trailed by 15 points early in the final period, then mounted a furious rally to cut the deficit to three with 2:42 remaining, before the Lakers won by six. Then Tuesday, Toronto was down by only six points with 5 1/2 minutes left before the Lakers, forced to play their regulars to the end, claimed a 114-105 victory.

Tonight at New Jersey

* 4:30 PST

* Channel 9, 6 p.m.

Site--Continental Airlines Arena.

Radio--KLAC (570).

Records--Lakers 52-20, Nets 37-35.

Record vs. Nets--0-1.

Update--The Nets are battling the Magic and Wizards for the final playoff spot in the East but will have to go the rest of the regular season, at least, without Jayson Williams because of a broken thumb. Williams is second in the league in rebounding.