Bryant Helps Out on Road

The Lakers began the slow rebuilding of their roster Saturday night.

Kobe Bryant played. He grimaced a lot, and leaned to his right a lot. But, through what he hopes to be the last strands of pain in his sprained right shoulder, he filled some of the holes that had widened in his absence, and the Lakers had their first road victory in seven weeks.

They beat the Utah Jazz, 93-86, at Delta Center. Bryant scored 21 points in 38 minutes, several hours after his activation from the injured list. Horace Grant returned from caring for his sick father, played 37 minutes, and afterward was praised by Phil Jackson for his defense and rebounding.

As a result of the Lakers’ surge in talent and depth, Slava Medvedenko found some space and tied his career highs in points (26) and rebounds (12). Gary Payton scored 22 points, three on a 26-foot jumper with 13 seconds remaining that gave the Lakers a 90-84 lead and emptied a previously loud building.

The shot was possible because Medvedenko chased a loose ball and batted it to Payton, who took some time off the clock, backed up Carlos Arroyo, stepped back and finished the Jazz from the top of the key.

The Lakers had lost nine consecutive road games. They had lost three in a row overall and eight of 12, and the accumulation of bad news and uncomely outcomes had appeared to be wearing on what was left of them. Shaquille O’Neal has been out the last 12 games, and Jackson predicted he would miss Wednesday’s against Seattle, calling it “a good possibility.” Karl Malone has been out since before Christmas and Bryant had sat six because of the sore shoulder.

“I think we were truly energized by the return of Kobe,” Jackson said.

And he, it seemed, by the chance to get back on the floor.

“Knowing Kobe, after doing what he had to get done in Colorado, he was going to be intense,” Grant said.

Bryant attended another motions hearing in Eagle on Friday, awoke Saturday morning in Los Angeles and flew to Salt Lake City, arriving in time for Saturday morning’s shoot-around. While not without discomfort, Bryant started in the backcourt with Payton, made four of his first five shots, went to the basket on some possessions and remained on the periphery on others.

“It bothered me, some shots and some fouls,” Bryant said. “It feels dead right now. I’ll get some treatment [today], we will heal it back up. I expected it to feel that way after the game.”

In Bryant’s first rigorous exercise since he sprained the shoulder Jan. 12, Jackson rode him, but rode him with some conscience.

“He wasn’t running through picks,” Jackson said. “He was gliding a little bit defensively. And he wasn’t throwing his arm up contesting shots.... We slid him over on players he didn’t have to guard too closely.”

Asked where he was limited, Bryant said, “Uh, pump fake and draw the fouls. You know, [I] couldn’t really finish at the basket the way I wanted to. Other than that, I was able to control the game a little bit, make timely baskets, be a decoy in certain places.

“I’m not worried about it. As long as I don’t take a heavy blow to that same spot, I’m all right.”

Despite a decent number of Laker fans -- left over from Sundance, perhaps -- the crowd was loud in its disapproval with Bryant, both in introductions and when he held the ball.

But he hardly seemed to notice, and the Lakers led by 19 points midway through the third quarter. While their lead fell to three -- once early in the fourth quarter and again late -- it was the Lakers who scored on the critical possessions and the Lakers who had the important stops against a Jazz team that lacked its best two players, Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring.

It’s not all back together again, and it could be weeks before it is. The Lakers will take what they can get.

“It’s such a big difference,” Medvedenko said. “Gary on the floor, Kobe on the floor, they penetrate a lot and we’re open. It’s much easier.”