Bryant Searches for Some Answers After Bad Game 5

Kobe Bryant’s right foot is sprained, his medium-range jump shot is listed as day to day, and his every move to the basket is creating a Portland Trail Blazer emergency-room situation:

Isolate the dribbler, STAT!

Cut him off. Remove the basketball. Clear out. End of procedure.

“Just had a lot of turnovers, mistakes, bad decisions,” Bryant said Wednesday, a day after the Lakers’ Game 5 loss to the Trail Blazers at Staples Center sent the best-of-seven Western Conference finals back to Portland with the Lakers ahead, three games to two.

It was a hectic game for Bryant, who followed two restrained but often brilliant performances in Portland by suffering an early foot injury in Game 5, getting into foul trouble, committing six turnovers and making only four of 13 shots.

“It’s something that we all did,” Bryant said. “But no biggie. . . . You just throw it out, and you just move on, you know? You just learn from it and just get ready for the next game.”

Bryant said his right foot was still sore Wednesday, but further examinations found no significant damage and Bryant said he expected no major difficulties moving around in Friday’s Game 6 at Portland.

“Well, I couldn’t stop and cut [on Tuesday],” said Bryant, whose action was limited during Wednesday’s practice by Coach Phil Jackson. “I couldn’t really plant off my right foot. But it’ll heal with time.”

His recent offensive problems, Bryant and the Laker coaches said, are partly a result of Portland’s decision to send extra defenders at him once he puts the ball on the floor, and partly a result of Bryant’s recent outside-shooting slump.

In his last two games, Bryant has made nine of 28 shots, causing him to try to get into the lane more frequently and leaving him prone to the reaching, bumping Trail Blazer defense of Scottie Pippen & Co.

“I think sometimes Kobe tries to take it all upon himself to score,” said Laker assistant Tex Winter, who, along with Jackson, sent two sour looks at Bryant when he was removed for a few minutes in the fourth quarter.

Said Jackson: “They’re not giving him any space to operate out there and I think that he’s trying to figure out how to get himself free to operate.

“And as a consequence, [on his] second dribble, he’s got companions. He has to figure out where the space is out on the floor and he didn’t find that.”

Bryant has averaged 17 points, shot 40.6% and committed 15 turnovers in the Western Conference finals, after averaging a team-best 24.3 points, shooting 55.6% and committing only seven turnovers in three regular-season games against the Trail Blazers.

His only truly explosive moments came in Game 3, when he scored 25 points, among them 18 in the first half, as the Trail Blazers threatened to blow the game open. Other than that game, Bryant is averaging 15 points and shooting 32.6% this series.

“He didn’t have a good game back here a week ago Monday [in Game 2],” Jackson said. “That game was not a good game for him, either. So he put a couple good games together in Portland.”

Then, with a smile, Jackson added: “And we’re going to talk to his fiancee about this.”

On Wednesday, Bryant acknowledged that, especially with Portland triple-teaming Shaquille O’Neal from the tip-off, it’s sometimes hard for him to resist the temptation to try to take over--and take the ball directly into the heart of the defense.

“Just relax, let the game come to you,” Bryant said, when asked what he tells himself during the heat of the moment.

“It’s just tough, man, especially when you try to do that, then you get in foul-trouble situations, you can’t find your rhythm. It can be tough at times.”

So, knowing Bryant’s ability to motivate himself and the pride with which he directs himself toward greatness, what does he expect from himself in Game 6?

“A better game than I just had, you know? Just come back strong,” Bryant said. “It’s a huge challenge.”

One thing he can do, Bryant said, is try to start from different spots in the Laker triangle offense.

“They’re used to seeing me at the top, they’re used to seeing me on the pinch-post [at either side of the free-throw line],” Bryant said.

“I kind of have to play different positions within the triangle, kind of throw them off guard a little bit, throw the defense off balance. . . .

“You’ve got to pick your spots. I think they’re kind of ready for what I did in Game 3.”

Backup guard Derek Fisher said he thought the Lakers were thrown off kilter by several factors, including Portland’s continued defensive attentions on O’Neal and Bryant, and the Lakers’ pressing to try to close the series at Staples.

“I think we all were, you know? I think it would be a mistake to try and single out Kobe in that situation,” Fisher said.

“I think everybody knew what the situation was and really wanted to come out and perform well. I think that really caused tension more than relaxation. Just thinking about getting a chance to go to the finals. . . .

“Now that’s over, now you have to get back to just digging out a way to win and not worrying about winning, 4-1, or what the score is or matchups here or matchups there. It’s just all about trying to figure out a way to win one of these last two games.”