Bryant Locks In and Unloads

The Lakers weren’t ever concerned that Kobe Bryant’s loss of offensive appetite was terminal, and so they handed him the basketball again Tuesday night and he was, well, himself again, whatever the now daily definition is.

After an awkward 48 hours in a season that apparently will be end-to-end awkward, during which he found himself in the unique position of defending his right not to shoot, Bryant scored a season-high 45 points and the Lakers defeated the stubborn Golden State Warriors, 109-104, at Staples Center.

Bryant played into the creases of the Warriors’ defense and made 14 of a season-high- tying 29 field-goal attempts and 17 of 18 free throws.

Then, disturbed by the interpretation of his one-shot first half in Sacramento on Sunday, he left without addressing the media.

“Kobe was bound and determined to show you guys what,” Coach Phil Jackson said, grinning. “Uh-huh. So there.”

With the playoffs a half-week away, Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone were reluctant to answer questions regarding Bryant’s game. And Gary Payton refused all questions.

O’Neal did say, “He was Kobe,” but otherwise referred questions to the place where Bryant normally stands after games.

“His locker’s right over there,” he said.

O’Neal scored 23 points and took 13 rebounds. Malone scored 10 points. Payton had nine.

“They’ll be all right,” Jackson said. “Some of these players are new to this. Some of us are used to this. If not used to it, we’ve dealt with it in the past few years and we’re ready to go on, put it behind us and go on. This team has always had a lot of drama.”

The Warriors, down several players because of injuries and having failed to qualify for the playoffs again, still were game enough to push the Lakers to the final possessions of the fourth quarter. In fact, the Lakers did not hold a lead until 89-87, on a Kareem Rush three-point shot nearly five minutes into the fourth.

The 55-26 Lakers reached the final day of the regular season -- they will play in Portland tonight -- uncertain of their first-round playoff opponent.

They could finish as the second-seeded team in the Western Conference, as the Pacific Division champion, and play the seventh-seeded Houston Rockets, third and play the Memphis Grizzlies or fourth and play the Dallas Mavericks.

In all of the scenarios, they would open at Staples Center this weekend, Saturday or Sunday.

What the Lakers might look like by then is anyone’s guess. Jackson gets paid to guess along with them, and even he’s not sure.

They played themselves into another first-half double-digit deficit, their fifth in a row, and allowed the Warriors 59 points in the half.

“It’s like a broken record,” Malone said. “We try to outscore people and we’ll get our butts kicked. We can’t be happy. We just got away with it.”

So, the Lakers scored 60 in the second half, which is occasionally their preference to defensive effort.

“You don’t know what you’re going to find with this team sometimes,” Jackson said, “when you get on the court.”

He could have predicted Tuesday’s flavor, probably. So unhappy with criticism of his play Sunday, Bryant went on a pregame radio show to defend himself, and then arrived at game time with all of his offense. He took the team’s first three shots, scored eight of the Lakers’ first 11 points, 14 of their first 27 and 20 of 41. In the fourth quarter, he scored 16 points, 10 at the free-throw line.

“I didn’t think anybody else was going to get a shot for a while,” Jackson said.

In perhaps his final regular-season home game as a Laker, Bryant attacked the rim and flung his jumpers. He was dynamic and aggressive, split the double teams that foiled him in Sacramento, and even found teammates for eight assists.

Jackson said he spoke to Bryant on Tuesday morning and requested that he think about scoring earlier, about driving the Laker offense harder. So, Bryant had at it and the Warriors and their thin roster.

The Warriors are spending the final days of another lost season without Erick Dampier, Nick Van Exel and Troy Murphy. By the end of the game, they also lacked Speedy Claxton, who strained his right groin and did not play the second half.

So, Bryant attacked, and now the question is what comes next.

“I can’t make any kind of statement about that,” Jackson said.

“I can’t think about that. Or, I can’t make any assessment of that. That’s entirely something else. I’m not going to speak for him or make a judgment about what he might do.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Playoff

Possibilities

The Lakers will be seeded:

* No. 2 and face Houston in the first round if they defeat Portland tonight and Sacramento loses to Golden State.

* No. 3 and face Memphis if they win, Sacramento wins and San Antonio loses to Denver.

* No. 4 and face Dallas if they lose, or if they win and Sacramento and San Antonio win.

*--* The Western Conference standings through Tuesday’s games (division winners each guaranteed a first- or second-seeding): Team W L GB 1. Minnesota 57 24 -- 2. Sacramento 55 26 2 3. San Antonio 56 25 1 4. Lakers 55 26 2 5. Dallas 51 30 6 6. Memphis 50 31 7 7. Houston 45 36 12 8. Denver 43 38 14

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