Lakers Up to Their Old Tricks

At the end of 38 points, 24 in the fourth quarter, two more in the overtime period, Kobe Bryant raised his arms and balled his fists.

At the end of one of the great individual 15 minutes in franchise history, Bryant’s teammates came to him one by one, touched his hands, hugged him, and he smiled wearily.

His season, five months in, has been long by every measure. Padded and wrapped and propped up, Bryant led the Lakers, carried them, dragged them, through the Orlando Magic, 113-110, Monday night at Staples Center, and back from a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit.

Still wearing the shoulder pad and compression shirt that guards his sprained shoulder, and still playing somewhere between what he can do and what he is asked to do, Bryant made eight of 11 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, his layup with 41 seconds left taking them to the regulation buzzer.

Gary Payton made the overtime 23-footer that gave them their three-point victory. And Shaquille O’Neal had 27 points, 23 rebounds and five blocks.

But, as he did in Chicago two nights before, as he has in many towns on many nights, it was Bryant who stood across from the most frightful player -- Tracy McGrady, in this case -- and took the critical shots and, defensively, forced the difficult ones.

“I wanted to get something going,” Bryant said. “I play with a lot of confidence, a lot of swagger. I think my teammates feed off that.”

McGrady, apparently on his way to a second consecutive scoring title, had 37 points. But, with a 19-point lead fading, with Bryant coming, he had five points in the fourth quarter, and could not stay with Bryant. Five weeks ago, in Orlando, the Magic blew an 18-point lead against the Lakers, these things tending to happen to 50-loss teams.

“That’s what it’s all about,” McGrady said of a matchup on which Bryant insisted, over Phil Jackson’s protests. “I always look forward to a guy like that, of his caliber, because he’s going to bring his ‘A’ game. It’s a challenge, and you’ve just got to step up to his level, because he’s gonna bring it and you’ve got to be ready to face that. It’s great for the game, it’s great for the league.”

Not so wonderful for the Magic.

McGrady’s hook shot from 23 feet was a tenth of a second or two late at the regulation buzzer, a fact the referees confirmed with instant replay.

Bryant’s 24 points in the last quarter tied a franchise record for points in any quarter, held by Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. They also pulled the Lakers, who went late into the fourth quarter against the dreadful Chicago Bulls on Saturday night and then beyond that against the dying Magic, into third place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs.

The Laker victory was set up nearly 18 minutes before the crowd, which a half-hour earlier had booed them, would carry Bryant from the court with its cheers.

With 28 seconds left in the third quarter, Bryant defended McGrady on the left wing.

McGrady, by then, had 31 points. Bryant had only occasionally had McGrady as his defensive responsibility, and then by his own choosing, Jackson not wanting Bryant fatigued on both ends.

So, Bryant squatted down and hiked up his shorts and leaned into McGrady.

One of the deft one-on-one offensive players in the game, McGrady went to his favored moves, left, right, left and right again. Bryant, when physically able a strong, athletic defender, stayed beside McGrady, and when McGrady flashed the ball, Bryant took it.

In a moment of frustration, McGrady fouled Bryant, 75 feet from the basket. And, as Bryant and nine others walked up the floor, the crowd rose and cheered. When he shot his free throws, the crowd chanted his name. He made them both.

And the Lakers trailed by ... 14.

“Doing it defensively as well as offensively, that was as impressive a game as I’ve seen him have,” Rick Fox said. “That’s a tall order. As you saw, Tracy ran through everybody but Kobe.”

The fourth quarter beckoned, but Bryant was in full sweat by then, full froth, and he scored nine points in the first five minutes of the final period. Now under Jackson’s directive, Bryant hounded McGrady, and the Magic, whose losing streaks have losing streaks, began to hesitate, began to breathe heavily, began to stand and watch McGrady and short-arm their own attempts.

So the Lakers gained. From an 87-68 deficit, their run was 16-2. Bryant had 11 of the points.

From a 96-87 deficit, the Lakers’ run was 13-6. Bryant scored all 13.

From a 102-92 deficit, the Lakers’ run was 10-0.

From 15 points back in the fourth quarter, from 19 back in the third, from 15 back in the second, the Lakers tied the score at 102, on a driving layup by Bryant, finished with his left hand, his 23rd and 24th points of the quarter.

“That was pretty impressive,” Luke Walton said, before correcting himself. “That was real impressive. I was just glad I was on the floor on his team, and not on the floor on the other team.”

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Super Saver

Kobe Bryant’s shooting by quarter Monday. He finished with 38 points (13 of 26 from field; 10 of 13 from line):

*--* FIRST QUARTER Field goals-attempts 0-2 Free throws-attempts 0-0 Points 0 SECOND QUARTER Field goals-attempts 0-1 Free throws-attempts 1-2 Points 1 THIRD QUARTER Field goals-attempts 4-9 Free throws-attempts 3-4 Points 11 FOURTH QUARTER Field goals-attempts 8-12 Free throws-attempts 6-7 Points 24 OVERTIME Field goals-attempts 1-2 Free throws-attempts 0-0 Points 2

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