Kobe Takes a Personal Trip Home

Kobe Bryant returned to Los Angeles late Friday night, not long after scoring 36 points in a Game 3 victory against the Sacramento Kings, to tend to a family matter. He was expected to rejoin the club Saturday night, according to club officials.

Bryant was stoic before Game 3 and missed 12 of 15 shots before driving the Lakers to the brink of the Western Conference finals by making his last seven attempts. Afterward, he took a private jet to Los Angeles.

The club did not release the details of Bryant’s situation. Coach Phil Jackson believed it was weighty enough to have at least two conversations before the game with Bryant.

“I was concerned [Friday] night and had a talk with him, because when I arrived [from Colorado] I had a call when I hit my room,” Jackson said. “Kobe and I had a talk, and then we talked again before the game about being attentive to the game. He really got his concentration and focus on the game at some period and really played well. I was very pleased with it and I think he can regroup.”

The Lakers practiced without him on Saturday afternoon.

“We think that [Sunday] morning he’ll be back and we’ll be able to watch some tape and talk about the adjustments,” Jackson said. “We have to make some. Obviously, they’re just leaving our players and going down and doubling Shaq [O’Neal]. We didn’t take advantage of it in the second period. First period we did OK. Second period we didn’t.”

Bryant, who recently was married, has averaged 27.8 points and 6.2 assists in six playoff games. His 36 points, 16 free throws and 19 free-throw attempts on Friday were career playoff highs.

Doug Christie, a rangy 6-foot-6 defender, has had the Bryant assignment for most of the series. Christie’s foul trouble Friday, however, led to several possessions when 6-1 Bobby Jackson guarded Bryant.

“He comes out and attacks me,” Jackson said Saturday. “He wants to prove I can’t guard him.”

The two haven’t yet warmed into friends.

“I don’t talk to him,” Jackson said. “He’s a little bit arrogant, to me. He loves to talk big, especially when they’re winning. If they ain’t winning, he’s kind of quiet.”

Much of O’Neal’s late-season surge came from the extra confidence derived from his free-throw shooting, so the Lakers were concerned when he missed nine of 14 attempts in Game 3. He is shooting 47.8% for the series, low enough for King Coach Rick Adelman to employ the Hack-a-Shaq with more than five minutes remaining Friday night.

“I got so excited because I wanted to make them,” O’Neal said. “I couldn’t believe they did that.”

Center Vlade Divac said the Kings wouldn’t intentionally put O’Neal on the line until late in the game.

“You can’t do that,” Divac said. “Is he a bad free-throw shooter? Yeah, he is. But he’s going to make some.”