Situation Was Fluid for Bryant

Now the Lakers know why Kobe Bryant wouldn’t stop hugging Karl Malone and Derek Fisher after Game 5 Thursday.

If he had let go, he might have fallen down.

Ten minutes after he had clung to Malone on the court, screaming, “Yes! Yes! Yesssss!” Bryant was hooked to an IV unit and was breathing into a paper bag.

He’d played 45 minutes Tuesday on about three hours’ sleep, and played all but 1 minute 7 seconds of Thursday night’s 74-73 victory. And then, Bryant said Friday, the long days, short nights and emotional turns nearly consumed him. He also said he expected to be close to full strength by tonight’s Game 6, though coaches and teammates seemed more concerned.

Having sated himself with fluids and gotten some rest, Bryant watched film Friday, a short day for the Lakers, who flew late Thursday night and early Friday morning from San Antonio.

“Just tired, man,” Bryant said. “Played a lot of minutes. But well worth it. It’s been a tiring week.”

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If they advanced to the Western Conference finals, the Lakers would have home-court advantage against the Sacramento Kings, but not the Minnesota Timberwolves, based on regular-season records.

Also, because of Bryant’s pretrial hearing May 27, the Lakers might be better off playing the Kings.

If there were a playoff game that day, and if the hearing ran into late afternoon or early evening, Bryant would be more likely to make a game in the Pacific time zone than the Central time zone.

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Friday morning’s headline on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News: “Sudden Death.”

Game 6 will be played anyway.

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While mulling which was more desperate, Derek Fisher’s shot to end Game 5 or the San Antonio Spurs’ protest to the league afterward, the Lakers reviewed the final seconds themselves and, according to Coach Phil Jackson, concluded that they should have had more time for their final shot.

Tim Duncan made the fall-away 18-footer that gave the Spurs a 73-72 lead with nine-tenths of a second remaining, which is when the clock should have stopped, Jackson said. At the time, the Lakers, and especially Bryant, had lobbied for another tenth or two.

Still, Jackson did not blame the Spurs for petitioning the league.

“They had to go through the process, I’m sure,” he said. “You just have to get that out of your system.”

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Shaquille O’Neal, who’d assessed the shots by Duncan and Fisher in the final nine-tenths as equally “lucky,” on Friday explained the difference between good fortune and proficiency.

“When I hit a shot,” he said, grinning, “it’s skill.”