Bryant Delivers Final Shot of Hope

It appeared that after 82 games -- and another nine minutes and 59 seconds overtime -- the Lakers were doomed to mediocrity, or worse, irrelevance.

John Black, the team’s publicist, noted before an informal news conference Thursday afternoon that an ESPN analyst had just called the Lakers, “the most overrated team in the history of the NBA,” which Black took with some bemusement. In his job, bemusement runs just above the wing tips on the quiet days.

Just the night before, the Lakers had arrived at their regular season’s final second having achieved almost nothing they had set out for -- they weren’t healthy, they weren’t getting along, they weren’t playing well and the Sacramento Kings were about to win the Pacific Division by winning four of their last 12 games.

All they had to do was let the last second tick away and they could get on with their little postseason. Somebody could help Karl Malone to the bus. They could fan their No. 4 seeding into something that resembled accomplishment and hope Mark Cuban said something to rile up Shaquille O’Neal.

“We’ve been preparing for Dallas,” Coach Phil Jackson said.

And then, from the fingertips of Kobe Bryant, on a shot that seemed to graze the cloud that had hung over them for months, the Laker season brightened. It wasn’t the division title. The Lakers shine their shoes on division championship banners. It wasn’t even the win so much.

It was the moment. And it was momentum brought by a shot that arrived from 25 feet -- not once, but twice. Derek Fisher limped from the floor, a muscle in his groin catching with each step, a smile seemingly stretching from shoulder to shoulder.

Portland Trail Blazers strewn behind him, the Houston Rockets ahead of him, Bryant took a delirious lap, and teammates -- O’Neal among them -- hugged him. Malone met Jackson near the locker room door, held out his arms and said, “You’re the luckiest coach I’ve ever been around.”

Jackson used to hear that a lot, but not much this season. Injuries, Bryant’s criminal proceedings and frequent challenges to his tactical philosophies might have disturbed his famous composure, but he’s held on.

Most of them have, or have tried, despite a lot of evidence they hadn’t had the time to mix Malone and Gary Payton with Bryant and O’Neal. The offense has been ragged and the defense confused and Jackson admitted there were times he’d look out and see nothing familiar.

By Thursday, he was positively buoyant in a 10-minute discussion with reporters, in part because 7 1/2 months of messiness had ended so spectacularly. Even if the messiness wasn’t gone, it seemed the mood of a franchise lightened in that moment.

To Fisher, it was about winning a game that seemed lost, spending themselves even with a playoff game so near, and having something again to grin about.

“I don’t know if it’s about where we ended up being seeded,” he said.

Jackson threw himself into questions of matchups, particularly in regard to Bryant versus Cuttino Mobley and O’Neal versus Yao Ming. The Rockets won two of four games against the Lakers, so they aren’t your average No. 7-seeded team. Mobley sometimes challenges Bryant in the manner of a Bruce Bowen or Ron Artest, and Yao clearly is trying to make his reputation against O’Neal.

The Lakers, meanwhile, look like a team recovering from a long season, with Malone tending to a sprained ankle, Rick Fox a swollen thumb, Devean George a strained calf, along with Fisher’s injury. It is possible they’ll all play Saturday in Game 1, but Jackson will not know until closer to game time.

Maybe by then a team hardened by years of big shots in big times will still be feeling the warmth of Wednesday night in Portland, after a little shot with a little time left.

“No one could even have imagined this,” Jackson said. “[But], as a result, we sit here feeling like we gained some momentum back to go into these playoffs. We have to feel good about where we’re at.”

In one second.

“Yeah,” Jackson said. “Definitely. It’s just the valance of plus-minus, of win-loss. Just the elation.

“This lifts the spirit of the team tremendously.”