Kobe, Shaq Find Groove

For those wondering how long it would be before Kobe Bryant returned to his usual game--the slashing, crossing-over, blinding offense, followed by the hounding, grinding defense--how does six quarters strike you?

On two reliable ankles for the first time in weeks, Bryant played a near seamless game Thursday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He shot straight, located teammates in the clear and felt the hulking presence of Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers were 119-102 winners at Staples Center.

Desperately seeking consistency with the playoffs only two regular-season games away, the Lakers have won six consecutive games for the first time this season.

Bryant, who felt his way through Tuesday’s game against Phoenix, had 30 points and nine assists against the Timberwolves. In the third quarter alone, with the Lakers straining to put Minnesota’s jump shooters away, Bryant scored 17 points, had four assists and took three rebounds.

Strong early and late, O’Neal scored 31 points and took 12 rebounds. He made 11 of 21 shots, to Bryant’s 14-for-24 effort.

“They are our two best players,” Laker guard Derek Fisher said. “If they’re working well together, everything else is pretty much easy for the rest of us. If those two guys lead us offensively and defensively the way they have the last two games, we’re going to be where we need to be.”

What’s left for the Lakers, who clinched no worse than the fourth seeding in the Western Conference, is to win out, two more games, Sunday against Portland and Tuesday against Denver. Maybe it’ll get them another series at home.

Sacramento, which leads the Lakers by two in the loss column, won in overtime in San Antonio on Thursday night. The Kings have four games remaining, three of them on the road, including tonight in Dallas and Sunday in Phoenix.

The Lakers (54-26) hold the tiebreaker against the Kings, so identical records would mean home-court advantage for the Lakers.

In two games back from his ankle tendinitis, Bryant has scored 51 points and has made 21 of 38 field-goal attempts.

“We feel like we are playing well,” Bryant said. “There’s a great deal of improvement to be made, obviously, but this is the start of us really building our rhythm. We’re moving really well without the basketball and we’re reading the defense well, which opens up lanes and opens up cutters. That makes things very easy for us.”

The Lakers lost their defensive feel after a determined first quarter. Terrell Brandon, who scored 23 points Sunday in Minneapolis, ran Fisher around and through baseline screens, to the point where Kevin Garnett would stand at the top, 18 feet from the basket, waiting for Brandon to clear.

Twice in four possessions midway through the third quarter, Bryant drew the Lakers from their temporary malaise. Both times he located Rick Fox, alone, itchy to pull the Timberwolves’ defense away from the paint.

With the Timberwolves feeling their offense and sensing they were back in a game they shouldn’t have been, Bryant went to the baseline and looped a pass to Fox, who sunk a three-pointer and gave the Lakers a 59-53 lead.

Not long after, Bryant dribbled to the baseline and then snapped a pass to the right corner. Fox made the three, pushing the Laker lead to 64-53.

Fox scored 16 points, making four of seven three-pointers.

“Kobe looked a lot cleaner,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said, “and that much more comfortable. I thought he played a good game. I was a little worried that he was going to be off the ball [defensively]. I like him on the ball because he does a good job there, but he looked good.”

The Lakers scored the first 11 points, seven of them by O’Neal, and never trailed.

“I think they came out and Shaq felt he could pretty much do what he wanted,” Minnesota Coach Flip Saunders said. “I think that set the tone for the game. When we made a run at them, or things got close, they went back to Shaq and scored, or kicked it out for a three-point shot. Then Kobe got things going in the second half. He was phenomenal.”