Bryant: His Game Is Nothing Like Mike’s

The better Kobe Bryant gets, the more he scores, the more he hears about Michael Jordan.

“I don’t know why people are hanging on to that,” he said. “They’re, like, clinging on to something. Let it go.”

There is no chance of that, of course.

“Our games are completely different,” Bryant said. “If you watch Michael, especially in his early years, which is what they try to compare me to, he had a lot of isolation. If I had a lot of isolations, then our games might be a little more similar. Then I would be able to use my first step. For the most part, I’m off the dribble. I’m handling the ball. I’m coming down, creating, getting to the basket, stuff like that. Mike took one dribble and went to a spot here, or one dribble and went to the basket. He caught the ball in areas where he could immediately operate.

“I think that’s a key difference, as far as from an energy standpoint. There’s a lot of energy in pushing the ball every night.”

In the middle of making his point, Bryant caught himself, remembered he was running off comparisons to the best who ever played, and laughed.

“That is a compliment,” he said. “But, we’re different.”

*

One more time, just so everyone remembers exactly what will run through every Portland Trail Blazer head when it rolls into Staples Center this afternoon:

June 4, Game 7, Western Conference finals. Lakers down, 71-58, in the fourth quarter. Trail Blazers so giddy they can barely stand it. Trail Blazers so giddy they miss 13 consecutive shots. Lakers outscore them, 31-13, and win, 89-84.

You know what came next: A few games against Indiana, a riot, a parade, a ring ceremony.

It all could have been the Trail Blazers.

“We want to defend our home court,” Bryant said. “Last time they came here, we knocked them out of the playoffs. I’m sure they’re going to be thinking about that.”

*

Count Calvin Murphy among the hopeful miracle workers.

A hall of famer and one of the great free-throw shooters ever, Murphy said this week that Shaquille O’Neal is a slight adjustment away from being average from the line.

“He’s just lost his feeling and it’s because he’s listening to too many people,” Murphy told the Houston Chronicle. “He can’t have every Tom, Dick and Harry telling him what to do. He needs to shut everybody out and start over again. I could fix him overnight.”

*

Devean George, on injured reserve because of a sore throat and earache, practiced Sunday. He is eligible to be activated after Thursday’s game in Phoenix.

TODAY

Lakers vs. Portland

2:30 p.m., Channel 4

* Site--Staples Center

* Radio--KLAC-AM (570)

* Records--Lakers 20-9, Trail Blazers 18-10.

* Record vs. Trail Blazers--1-1.

* Update--In two games in Portland, the Lakers and Trail Blazers split by the identical scores of 96-86.

* Tickets--(800) 462-2849