Kobe Steps Up, Makes Big Deficit Disappear

You will remember this game for a long time, and for so many reasons, with a racing pulse and the indelible intuition that something important happened here.

As this season, and Kobe Bryant’s career, pass along, you can decide what event was most momentous, because there was so much to choose from in the Lakers’ exhilarating comeback from 24 points down to beat the Magic, 115-104, on Sunday at the Orlando Arena.

“I just couldn’t believe the turn-around from the way we’ve been playing, the way we played the first half,” Laker Coach Kurt Rambis said, referring to the team’s 20-point halftime deficit and losses in its two previous games.

“All of the adjustments that we made, the intensity, guys were helping each other. It was beautiful to watch.”

Beautiful and bounteous, starting with Bryant’s career-high 38-point masterpiece (33 in the second half), and moving on down the line:

Dennis Rodman reappeared, played, and stayed undefeated as a Laker.

Shaquille O’Neal returned to his former home base, and answered the taunts by scoring 31 points with 13 rebounds and winning for the first time as a Laker in Orlando.

The Laker defense, shredded for a season-high 63 points in the first half, raged to life in the second, propelling the team’s biggest comeback of the season and perhaps setting the stage for a new team purpose on defense.

“We showed a lot of character, I think,” said point guard Derek Harper, who also tossed in a season-high 20 points and made three consecutive three-point baskets in one blistering second-half stretch. “Character and defense.”

And, most explosively and perhaps historically, in a vintage, dare-we-say Jordan-like performance, Bryant rose to a level so far above everybody else that he looked like he was playing by himself for moments.

Him, and the basket.

“I felt very confident. My body felt relaxed, I felt loose,” said Bryant, who added that this was the best he has felt shooting the ball since he scored 50 second-half points in a high school game.

“I felt in the first half I was trying to do a little too much with it, because I did feel so good. At halftime, I just told myself to relax, simplify things.”

Spinning and fading-away, leaping for a towering alley-oop slam, pulling up for fastbreak three-pointers. . . .

Bryant, whose previous career high was 33, made seven of his eight attempts in the third quarter--scoring 15 points--and in a three-minute stretch, outscored Orlando, 9-0, all by himself, single-handedly trimming a 71-52 Magic lead to 71-61.

The Magic scored 41 points in the second half--only eight more than Bryant by himself.

“Kobe,” said veteran Magic forward Horace Grant, “could have shot the ball from half-court today.”

By the time Harper nailed his three-pointers, the Magic lead was in single-digits.

By the time Bryant made a fade-away from 22 feet to finish the Laker run of scoring on their first nine fourth-quarter possessions--while forcing the Magic into wild shots consistently--the score was tied, 93-93, with 6:59 left to play.

The Lakers, and Bryant, never looked back.

All those things happened. You choose what to remember most.

Everybody who was there will have their own favorites.

For Rambis, the clear highlight was the Laker defense, the focus of a team-wide screaming session at halftime, led by Rambis, and the bane of the team this whole road trip.

The Lakers (18-9) were getting killed by point guard Darrell Armstrong and center Michael Doleac working the pick-and-roll (sound familiar?) to the tune of 29 first-half points.

Doleac finished with a career-high 25, Armstrong with 22.

But Rambis decided to have his players jump out and trap the picker in the second half--silencing the pick-and-roll--and generally saw an amped-up defensive attitude, harassing Nick Anderson into a two-for-14 performance.

“‘You guys are nuts if that’s the only person you’re going to write about today,” Rambis said, referring to Bryant. “[Glen] Rice took some great shots, Shaq did his normal great job. [Derek] Harper hit some huge shots.

“But it was our defense, it was our defense, it was our defense, it was our defense.”

Bryant’s offense, Rambis said, started going into orbit when he started playing superb defense.

“I still think it stems from what we did defensively,” Rambis said. “He took the challenge. He got mad at what was happening to us defensively, stepped it up there.”

Something definitely snapped into place, at least for this game, after a wobbly 1-3 week on the road.

Along with holding Orlando to only 41 points in the second half, and outrebounding the Magic, 17-8, in the last two periods, the Lakers made nine of their 12 three-point attempts in that half.

“You know, people always are asking if there are enough basketballs here,” Bryant said, pointing to the production out of Rice (13 points, three of four from three-point distance), Harper and O’Neal (14 of 19 shooting).

“Sometimes, I wonder, can you get enough defenders out there?”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Tale of Two Halves

A closer look at Kobe Bryant’s landmark performance for the Lakers on Sunday: *--*

FIRST HALF SECOND HALF 21 Minutes 24 5 Points 33 2-8 Shooting 13-16 0-0 3-pt. Shooting 2-2 0 Rebounds 3 43 Laker points 72 63 Orlando points 41

*--*

TOTALS: 45 minutes, 38 points, 15-24 shooting (.625), 2-2 three-point shooting (1.000), 3 rebounds.

*

* RODMAN RETURNS

Laker forward plays again after eight days away from team and vows he will stay the rest of season. Page 4

* CLIPPERS WIN, CLIPPERS WIN

The Clippers won on the road for the first time, getting 22 points from Darrick Martin in a 100-85 win over Minnesota. Page 3