Bryant Just Needs to Relax a Little

Kobe Bryant, 12 for 16 from the field in the first half of Game 1 and 23 for 70 since, said his right shoulder felt good enough Friday that he stayed out of the trainer’s room.

“I just wanted to let it relax a little bit,” he said, “and not treat it to death.”

Given a hectic schedule, Phil Jackson’s preference for keeping heavy-minute players off the practice floor many days and his shoulder injury, Bryant has shot a lot of jumpers in the last week or so, and he has temporarily lost his touch.

“I don’t make excuses,” Bryant said on his way out of Staples Center after Thursday night’s overtime loss.

Bryant has made four of 14 three-pointers in a series in which the Lakers could use the perimeter threats, given Minnesota’s desire to surround Shaquille O’Neal in the middle. Derek Fisher is 13 for 18 from the arc and Rick Fox is five for 10, but Robert Horry has missed all nine of his attempts and Devean George is two for seven.

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Jackson said he thought Horry, whose start Thursday was his first in almost three weeks, tired in the third quarter. Kevin Garnett scored 11 points in the first five minutes of the third, giving the Timberwolves an 11-point lead, and less than three minutes later Mark Madsen came off the bench.

The Laker power forwards have not been scoring threats, a fact that has allowed Garnett to pester O’Neal in the post.

“I’m sure he’ll come back with more fervor and direction to his game,” Jackson said.

Typically, this is Horry’s time of year, though Jackson said he would attempt to hold Horry’s minutes to about 28. He also could be rethinking his starting lineup.

“I think he’s setting up the table for something big,” Bryant said.

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Rookie Jannero Pargo, derided as “Pretty Boy” by Timberwolf center Marc Jackson during Game 2, looked good enough to play 17 minutes in Game 3, 11 of them in the fourth quarter and overtime. He made two free throws with 47.7 seconds left in overtime that gave the Lakers a 108-107 lead, their last lead before losing, 114-110.

Pargo, who has given the Lakers a speed element off their bench, said he was not nervous late in the game.

“I felt like I was at HealthSouth [Center], shooting free throws,” he said. “There was no pressure at all.”

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The last time the Timberwolves led a series was in 1998, when, ahead two games to one, they lost their final two games to the Seattle SuperSonics.... The Laker roster began the postseason with 748 games of playoff experience, most in the league. Horry’s 153 games were most among them, followed by O’Neal’s 124 and Brian Shaw’s 115.

Bill Sharman received the John R. Wooden All-Time All-American Award, given to someone who has made significant contributions to the game and exemplifies Wooden’s ideals. Previous winners: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes and Ann Meyers Drysdale.