Lakers Take a Step Back

Kobe Bryant said he can’t play the way he would like to play anymore, so creaky are his ankles, so weary is he from bearing it.

He stood stiffly after the worst Laker loss of the season on Monday night, a full-length black coat hanging off his shoulders. His eyes were dull and heavy. Just when it seemed they had shorn the tattered ends from their season-after, the Lakers lost to the pitiful Atlanta Hawks, 108-106, at Philips Arena, and their four-game winning streak was gone.

Bryant missed the last shot, a 19-footer from the top of the key with three seconds left that banged off the rim, turning a sellout crowd hysterical in its disbelief. But, that wasn’t all. Bryant committed seven of the Lakers’ 19 turnovers, and was responsible for guarding Jason Terry, who scored 36 points.

He also snapped at teammates Rick Fox and Derek Fisher while on the floor, after plays that went poorly, then bickered with Coach Phil Jackson. With 5:05 left in the game, Jackson believed Bryant to be so worked up that he benched him for nearly a minute with the Lakers trailing by six points and desperate for offense.

Bryant scored 27 points, same as Shaquille O’Neal. But Bryant scowled through many of his 44 minutes, some of his teammates snarled back.

“My frustration has nothing to do with the game,” Bryant said. “It has everything to do with my limitations on the basketball court. I’ve never felt limited before. That’s why I’m frustrated.

“I’ve been feeling limited, as far as seeing gaps, seeing positions that I can get to on the floor. I’m just physically not able to get to them.”

For a long time, Bryant was inspired by the challenge of two bum ankles. Remember, he played through a sore shoulder, flu and the early symptoms of a viral infection by pushing his game farther.

He didn’t look inspired against the Hawks. He played unevenly Sunday in Orlando.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “It’s just difficult, that’s all. It’s something, I just have to get through them, learn how to deal with them.

“Going through what I’m going through right now, I just have so much more respect for [Ron] Harper and Brian Shaw and those guys, to be able to play through what they play through, you know.”

Still, Bryant insisted on taking most of the responsibility for the Laker offense, 22 shots to O’Neal’s 19. Bryant was two for six from the field in the fourth quarter. O’Neal was one for five.

As the offense died, the defense could do nothing with Toni Kukoc, who scored 26 points, 19 in the second half. His three-point basket from the right wing, not 10 feet from Jackson, his former coach, with 56 seconds left gave the Hawks a 107-102 lead.

Bryant made a layup and Fox made another, pulling the Lakers to within 107-106. Terry made only one of two free throws with 6.3 seconds left, leaving the Lakers with options and time for them.

Fox inbounded to Bryant, who dribbled to the top of the key, pulled up and pushed a jumper that did not fall. Alan Henderson took the rebound.

“It’s frustrating,” Bryant said.

The Lakers dashed between celebrating Hawks, who won their 21st game, and the one they’ll remember this summer.

Afterward, the Lakers brushed aside the on-court flare-ups with Bryant, perhaps forgiving him, perhaps wary of more distractions in a season laden with them.

“He got upset about turning the ball over in that one sequence,” said Jackson, who put the loss on the team’s fourth game in five nights. “I tried to get him to stay on the floor and make passes. He got up in the air a couple of times and he turned the ball over. I just wanted him to cool off.”

When he returned to the floor, Bryant smacked Fisher on the butt, and Fisher returned the apology. Fox said he barely noticed Bryant’s ire.

“We all have our frustrations,” Fox said. “It sends the wrong message to an opponent, though, when they see us disrupted like that. But, once we get into the locker room, it runs off. I know it’s nothing personal.”

O’Neal said he hadn’t noticed. Like the rest, he mourned an awful defeat with quiet words. He believed he did not see the ball enough late, “as usual, when we lose to teams like this.”

O’Neal avoided questions about Bryant’s surly on-court demeanor. Jackson said he wouldn’t worry about Bryant.

“No,” Jackson said. “He’ll be all right.”