Lakers’ Chance Slips Away

The rivalry has indeed changed, with Jumaine Jones hitting key three-pointers and Brian Cook blocking shots and yanking away rebounds in the final, crucial minutes.

But in the game that Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich referred to beforehand as the Lakers’ biggest so far this season, they came no closer than close, losing to the Sacramento Kings, 109-106, before 18,997 Friday at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant, who last month declared the Laker-King rivalry to be, well, deceased, had 40 points on 11-for-17 shooting as the Lakers hung with the Kings, quarter by quarter, possession by possession.

But Peja Stojakovic made four free throws in the final minute, the first two giving the Kings the lead for good, 107-106, after he intercepted Bryant’s pass to Cook and was fouled by Cook with 35.9 seconds left.

Bryant and Lamar Odom missed three-pointers in the final seconds and the Lakers lost to their Pacific Division rival, if that word may still be used.

Afterward, Bryant preferred to call Friday a “heated game,” nothing more.

“We still have a lot of ground to catch up,” Bryant said. “Hopefully one day, it’ll be a rivalry.”

It was a close-enough effort to consider the old times, Robert Horry hitting from behind the arc in the 2002 Western Conference finals, Rick Fox and Doug Christie mixing it up before an exhibition a few months later, and Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic making the Lakers sweat just about every time the teams played since the Lakers narrowly took the first round from the Kings in the 2000 playoffs.

But memories weren’t enough to please Tomjanovich, who left the arena by himself, looking down at the ground as he made his way through a mostly empty concourse.

“I’m not in the mood for moral victories and all that stuff,” Tomjanovich said. “We thought we had the Phoenix game [Nov. 19] and we thought we had this game. This has got to hurt.”

It was Bryant who said last month the Laker-King rivalry no longer existed. Then King forward Chris Webber followed suit earlier this week by conceding it was indeed over ... and that the Lakers had won it.

But that didn’t stop histrionics from making an appearance before the game.

Laker center Vlade Divac, playing his first game against his former teammates since signing with the Lakers in July, was ribbed -- or ripped, depending on perspective -- by his former coach Thursday.

King Coach Rick Adelman called Divac a flopper, telling the Sacramento Bee he “definitely flops,” “moves on picks” and “does a lot of stuff that’s illegal.”

Adelman said Friday the comments were tongue-in-cheek, but just the same, the article was placed neatly in Divac’s locker for his perusal when he arrived at Staples Center. Divac, for his part, played only seven minutes in his second game since returning from a back injury. He had two points, two rebounds and an assist.

But there was still Bryant.

He had 13 points in the third quarter, among them a reverse dunk around Christie that sat well with Laker fans because it was aesthetically pleasing and because it came against Christie, who, despite going to Pepperdine, has never been a favorite son here, all part of the enmity between the teams.

The Lakers trailed after three quarters, 85-80, but took a 105-102 lead after Jones hit a three-pointer from the corner. But Bibby answered with a three-pointer and Stojakovic was perfect from the line.

Trailing by three, the Lakers still had a chance to tie. Tomjanovich thought about diagraming a new three-point play that the Kings wouldn’t be familiar with. He decided, however, to put the ball in Bryant’s hands with a buzzer-beating play they had used in the past.

“Instead of saying, ‘Do it my way,’ [I decided] he’s had a whole lot of game-winning shots,” Tomjanovich said.

Bryant, however, came up short. The Lakers got the ball back with 2.1 seconds left because Christie dropped the rebound out of bounds, but Odom’s off-balance 35-foot shot at the buzzer hit the backboard and rattled off the rim.