Kobe Still Big Shot for Lakers

Some days, the job is Kobe Bryant’s and no one else’s, because it seems he does not tire and he does not get distracted and he does not yield.

Sometimes, the days become weeks, and the weeks become months, and if Shaquille O’Neal is going to need more time, then that only leaves more for Bryant.

At the end of a week they all called critical, Bryant scored 42 points and the Lakers won their third consecutive game, 99-87, against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Staples Center.

Against playoff-expectant teams from Phoenix and Sacramento and then Utah, Bryant averaged 40 points and his energy helped carried them from Wednesday to Saturday. The Lakers leaned at times on O’Neal (21 points) as well, or Robert Horry or Brian Shaw, and then Rick Fox (nine points) for several possessions against the Kings and the Jazz.

But, first and last there was Bryant, leading them now to 22-23, within a game of their coveted .500 for the first time since they were 2-3, before anyone knew how messy it would get, and how edgy the season’s second half would have to be. They are three games removed from the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.

“Kobe can really unify this team when he wants to bring it to another level, both in moving the ball and scoring with it,” Coach Phil Jackson said, just as he had asked of Bryant early in the week.

Said Bryant: “All he provided for me was some direction. He just sat me down and said he wanted me to be more aggressive offensively for us and really get it going. And I said, OK, fine, I can do that for you.”

Three games later, the Lakers look comfortable again, or as close as they’ve been since last June.

“Well, we talked about turning a corner here,” Fox said, “and it’s been two months now that we’ve been talking about it.... We are doing what we had talked about doing eventually.”

Bryant was 12 for 25 from the field, 16 for 18 from the free-throw line, and ended the third quarter with the shot that brought back the crowd.

In the final four possessions of the third quarter, Bryant scored 10 points. The Lakers went from two up to nine up. The last three points came from just this side of half court, a flick of his wrist before the buzzer and the neon.

He took the pass near the top of the opposite arc, dribbled to 40 or so feet, set his shoulders and let fly.

When his shot fell, moments after the third-quarter buzzer blared, Bryant turned and grinned and pointed to every corner of the arena. The people cheered him and chanted his name and called him the MVP, and then the Jazz was close to done.

Greg Ostertag called it “a big momentum swinger for them,” and while the Jazz did get to within five points in the fourth quarter, it was only briefly before the Lakers pulled away. Karl Malone had 26 points, the most among five Jazz players in double figures. The Jazz, old and game, was close enough at times, even without suspended Coach Jerry Sloan and injured forward Matt Harpring.

The usual “mud-wrestling” game against the Jazz, Jackson called it.

Utah trailed early but stayed in it. Half a step here, some indecision there, moments that enlivened the Jazz, nine points back in the first quarter, 11 points back in the second quarter, one point ahead in the third. Both teams were in the second of back-to-back games, and both showed it at times.

In a season already on end, the Lakers arrived having won two in a row on the road (Phoenix and Sacramento) and having lost two in a row at Staples (Golden State and New Jersey), and very little would surprise them anymore. So, in stepped Bryant, predictably, and out went the Jazz, numbly.

“Kobe kicking my butt most of the night,” Calbert Cheaney said, “throw that in there, and it’s a tough night.”

Cheaney had company, of course, in Phoenix (Shawn Marion) and Sacramento (Doug Christie).

“It has been a big three games for us,” Bryant said. “This is a stretch that when we looked at our schedule, we said this is a critical point of the season for us, so I have just been coming ready to play.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Long Road Back

*--* The team with the worst record to make the Western Conference playoffs last season finished 44-38. How Lakers need to finish season to reach that record: WINS LOSSES TO REACH 44 38 CURRENT 22 23 MUST GO 22 15

*--*

*--* RACE FOR EIGHT Top eight teams qualify for the Western Conference playoffs. The race: Team W L GB 8. Houston 25 20 -- 9. Lakers 22 23 3 10. Seattle 21 24 4 11. Golden State 20 26 5.5

*--*