Kobe’s Shot Is Off the Charts

Kobe Bryant took two strides to his right, one long dribble, just as he planned, and pulled up. His jump shot cleared Shane Battier’s right fingertips by inches and landed softly just left of center, just left of perfect, just this side of the buzzer, and five minutes later Jerry West stood outside the Laker locker room, his arms crossed against his blue suit.

“A gift from God tonight,” West said. “That was a gift from God.” He smiled wistfully.

Bryant’s 21-footer from the top, on a play Phil Jackson drew in black marker with 3.3 seconds left, amounted to the final two of a 23-point fourth-quarter comeback. Bryant set his jaw and the Lakers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 102-101, Friday night at the Pyramid.

“I had in my mind’s eye what I was going to do,” Bryant said later, “and I executed it.”

Four months after their 27-point fourth-quarter comeback against the Dallas Mavericks, 24 hours after their 11-point win in Dallas, the Lakers outscored the Grizzlies, Jerry West’s Grizzlies, 36-12, in the final quarter. Rookie guards Jannero Pargo and Kareem Rush played every minute of the fourth, and they, along with Mark Madsen, Brian Shaw and Devean George -- “Us peons,” Shaw said -- carried the early moments of the revival.

They played against the 23-point deficit to maintain a semblance of momentum going into the season’s final six games. They played through the deficit and caught the Utah Jazz for sixth in the Western Conference, with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers still out there, maybe, and then they handed it to Bryant and raised their fists.

“Just the way the game was going,” Jackson said, “it felt right.”

Assistant Frank Hamblen turned to Jackson early in the final quarter, when the Memphis lead was big and ugly, and said, “We gotta get some younger legs. We look awful old out there,” and the rookies led them back, and the winning streak was three, and a grinding win in Dallas was not decimated.

“We didn’t want to kick that victory to the curb,” Bryant said.

For more than 40 minutes, it had appeared the Lakers had left their legs in Dallas, in a 100-89 win there on Thursday night. The only guy who showed up with all of his game was the 330-pounder, the player everyone was wondering about a month ago. Shaquille O’Neal had 22 points and 12 rebounds at halftime, and finished with 33 and 19.

Bryant passed too often and finished with 21 points, and Robert Horry missed all of his six shots, and they all had 15 more turnovers, and the Grizzlies were young and fresh and leading, 89-66, when Jackson sent in his second unit to play it out or bring them back; either way, the jet was idling.

“You don’t think,” Pargo said. “You just come out and you play.”

Jackson put O’Neal back into the game with about seven minutes left and the Laker deficit 15.

Thirty-five seconds later, with the Lakers within 12, Bryant returned. He made a three around a Memphis free throw, and the Lakers were within 10. He made two free throws and the deficit was eight with more than five minutes to play.

George made a steal and dived on a loose ball, and Rush finished on the break and the Lakers were within six, 95-89, with four minutes left.

Horry returned, Bryant made another three, Horry stole the inbounds pass and Pargo made a three, and the run was 29-8 and the Lakers were within 97-95, and the crowd cheered alternately for the Grizzlies trying to hold off the Lakers and the Lakers gaining, as if the whole game were being played inside Jerry West’s head. The Grizzlies made two of 15 shot attempts in the fourth quarter, and did not make a field goal in the final 7:36.

Pau Gasol missed the first of two free throws with 3.3 seconds left, made the second, the Grizzly lead was 101-100, and in the timeout Jackson handed the basketball to Bryant.

Two weeks from the playoffs, from starting over, in a game they did not need but really wanted, Bryant made his dribble, made his shot, did it again. Afterward, he looked out over the next six games, into the real season.

“We understand the challenge,” he said. “We understand how difficult it’s going to be.”