Another Last Shot for Kobe

The game had ended. But the action was just beginning.

As the Lakers were walking off the court after beating the Indiana Pacers, 96-84, Friday night at Staples Center, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and the Pacers’ Reggie Miller met at half court.

Arms out in front, palms open, they appeared to be talking. The talking appeared to get louder.

Suddenly, Bryant took a swing at Miller with his right hand. Miller grabbed Bryant in a bearhug and the two tumbled over the scorer’s table.

Players and coaches from both sides waded in to break it up.

When the players were separated, Indiana’s Austin Croshere appeared to have suffered the most damage. His uniform in tatters, scratches around his neck and down his back, he looked as if he had been wrestling a lion.

“Somebody comes at me, I’m going to defend myself,” Bryant said in a statement. He and Miller weren’t available for more explanations.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson was cautious in his comments.

“It was a hotly contested ballgame,” he said, “and a very physical basketball game out there. After the game, it looked like Kobe and Miller lined up and went after each other.... I imagine there was a lot of talking going on during the course of the game.”

As for Bryant’s recent tendency to speak with his fists (he punched Samaki Walker last week), Jackson said, “He has been very aggressive basketball-wise and I don’t mind that as long as it is within the context of playing basketball.”

Does Jackson feel it is inevitable Bryant will be suspended?

“More than likely,” Jackson said. “I am not going to feed into it, but we are going to have to deal with that on Sunday for sure.”

It all happened so suddenly.

“I thought they were going to say goodbye,” Laker forward Robert Horry said. “That’s all I know. Then all hell broke loose.

“Kobe was just being Kobe. Going out and playing hard and things happen. I don’t know what was going on in his head. I was kind of surprised.”

Horry looked at the crowd of reporters and added, “You know, we also had a game tonight.”

That they did.

Led by Shaquille O’Neal’s 33 points (14 of 21 from the floor) and 12 rebounds and Bryant’s 25 points, the Lakers zoomed into an early lead, were caught in the fourth quarter, but then pulled away to improve to 40-17.

O’Neal and another Miller, Brad, were supposed to be the centers of combustion when the game began.

In the past few days, O’Neal kept saying his differences with Brad Miller were in the past and he was moving on.

Right, moving on, over, around and through Miller.

It has been nearly two months since O’Neal popped a gasket in Chicago when he felt Miller, then a member of the Bulls, was overdoing the Hack-a-Shaq routine. O’Neal took a wild swing at Miller, but missed his target.

For that, O’Neal was suspended three games and fined $15,000.

Friday night, O’Neal and Miller, subsequently traded to the Pacers, met again.

And O’Neal, who has refused to comment on their earlier confrontation, let his feelings be known on the court.

He easily won the opening tipoff from Miller.

And then, he easily went to the hoop.

Again and again and again.

O’Neal scored on a turnaround jump shot, a layup, a dunk. It began to look like a layup drill.

He scored the first eight Laker points as they took an 11-0 lead and 11 of their first 13.

Never mind Miller. At the rate he was going, O’Neal was taking aim at Wilt Chamberlain and his record 100 points in a single game.

The way the game turned out, the Lakers didn’t even get 100 points.

With the Pacers sending 7-foot Jermaine O’Neal and 6-11 Jeff Foster into the defensive battle with O’Neal along with Miller, the Laker center finished the first half with 19 points in 19 minutes.

And what looked at first like an O’Neal highlight film turned into a tight game.

After taking a 23-8 lead in the first quarter, Lakers finished the period up 26-16. By the half, Indiana cut the lead to eight at 49-41. By the end of three quarters, the Lakers were clinging to a 69-67 advantage.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Croshere, trying to get around defender Mark Madsen at the three-point line, hesitated too long, letting the 24-second clock run out.

But a minute later, he found himself again face to face with Madsen. And this time, Croshere got around Madsen for the layup that enabled the Pacers to tie the score for the first time since O’Neal won the opening tipoff.