Injured Bryant Is Forced to Wing It

By TIM BROWN

Jan. 31, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CLEVELAND —

Kobe Bryant sat on the bench late Tuesday night and pulled breaths from a sticky, warm arena.

A trainer squatted before him. Between grimaces, Bryant promised he could play.

“I’m all right,” he told Gary Vitti. “I’m all right.”

Despite a right shoulder so sore he often carried it an inch or two below the left one, the right-handed Bryant scored 47 points, more than a few with his left hand.

Without Shaquille O’Neal, the defending MVP who missed his second consecutive game because of a sore right foot, the Lakers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 102-96, before 20,053 at Gund Arena.

Bryant, the prolific shooter who has struggled with his stroke for about a month, challenged the middle of the Cavalier defense, which defended him--cavalierly. He went to the free-throw line 26 times and made 23, a Laker record for successful free throws and an NBA high this season. He attempted 26 field goals and made 12 of them, and, along with a better defensive effort by most of his teammates, took the Lakers to a victory they felt they desperately needed.

They arrived having lost three of four games, and five of nine, most of that with O’Neal right there in the middle. That they would have to go on without O’Neal for an undetermined amount of time was daunting for a team whose confidence and energy dwindled with every lethargic effort.

“I was going to be aggressive, try to get to the line and draw contact,” said Bryant, whose 16 made free throws in the second half also broke the Laker record of 14, held by Jerry West and Magic Johnson.

Bryant’s play bordered on recklessness at times down the stretch, and he was scolded on the court by Coach Phil Jackson for it. But when the Cavaliers charged back, when their last run brought them from 19 points back at the end of the third quarter to four points back late in the fourth, it was Bryant who stood at the line, holding them off, one point at a time.

“Obviously, my jumper is not feeling as comfortable as it usually does,” Bryant said. “I made a concerted effort to try to get to the basket.”

Jackson clearly would have preferred that Bryant occasionally find an open teammate with a pass when the Cavaliers double- and triple-teamed his jaunts to the basket. He had three assists and seven turnovers to go with the most points he’d ever scored in a regulation game.

“I debate going in there when there’s a crowd, when finding an open man is a better policy,” Jackson said. “But he got accomplished what he had to get accomplished and he was the aggressor until game’s end.”

Not surprisingly, it is Bryant who feels the offensive responsibility in the absence of O’Neal and O’Neal’s 27-point average. As predictably, Jackson is stuck between praising Bryant’s frenetic, dynamic play and clinging to the back of his jersey.

Asked to describe the extent of Bryant’s shoulder injury, Jackson shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You take [52 combined] shots it doesn’t help your shoulder too much. It’s a process. We’ll give him some time to rest and heal that capsule. It will come along with time, but it’s going to take a little longer with as busy as he is right now.”

Also battling sore elbows, tendinitis in his knee and a tender pinkie, Bryant has swelling inside his shoulder capsule that includes an inflamed rotator cuff. Afterward, he sat before his locker and said he could not raise his arm above his head. Indeed, given a turnover and nothing but open court in front of him late in the first half, Bryant gently dunked with his left hand.

“It’s hurting right now,” Bryant said. “It’s worse than it was before the game and during the game. I didn’t think about it while I was taking shots. I just cleared my mind and went out there and played the game.”

There was no indication that Bryant was in danger of missing the game, though he was unable to practice jump shots during Tuesday morning’s shoot-around. And he said he would play tonight, when the Lakers conclude their three-game trip in Minneapolis.

Horace Grant had 19 points and 14 rebounds, 15 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. Rookie Mark Madsen had a career-high 10 rebounds in 28 minutes. And the Laker defense was very active, as it had to be without O’Neal, though the Cavaliers scored 15 times in their final 17 possessions, which tightened the score considerably.

So Bryant, despite his weak shoulder and random decisions, played 41 minutes, and probably will play at least that many tonight.

“I think he took it upon himself to shoulder the responsibility one way or the other,” said Laker forward Rick Fox, who blanched at the unintended pun. “It would be nicer to have both [O’Neal and Bryant] of them. You don’t want to lose both. But, hey, man, we all got our own physical problems.”

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Points of Interest

Bryant’s high point totals this season:

51--Dec. 6, at Golden State

47--Jan. 30, at Cleveland

45--Dec. 21, at Houston

43--Dec. 1, vs. San Antonio

40--Dec. 17, at Toronto

38--Dec. 28, at Phoenix

38--Dec. 3, vs. Dallas

37--Nov. 28, vs. Indiana

JACKSON IS NO