Win Sits Well for Kobe

Kobe Bryant, the league’s runaway leader in minutes played, watched from the Laker bench for most of the fourth quarter, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Coach Rudy Tomjanovich, perhaps an unsettling reality in most circumstances.

But player and coach laughed their way through it Monday night, Bryant being told he couldn’t enter the game because the Lakers were doing fine without him, and Tomjanovich staying relatively resolute despite lighthearted prodding from Bryant.

In essence, the Lakers won a road game because of a critical run without Bryant, defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-96, in front of 18,642 at the Target Center.

Bryant began the quarter on the bench for a quick rest, but he remained there with a towel wrapped around his neck as the Lakers made three after three after three, on their way to a 24-7 run before he returned.

By that time, a 76-67 deficit at the end of the third quarter had become a 91-83 Laker lead.

“It felt great,” Bryant said. “For us to improve and continue to get better, we need everybody to contribute. [Sometimes] that means me sitting on the bench.”

Sensing he was missing out on a good time after Jumaine Jones’ three-pointer broke a 79-79 tie, Bryant strode up to Tomjanovich, smiled and asked whether he could get back into the game as the Timberwolves ran the other direction.

Tomjanovich’s answer, firm and final and loud: “Not yet.”

Less than a minute later, Tomjanovich sent Bryant to check into the game, but Jones made another three-pointer. Bryant and Tomjanovich exchanged understanding, if not amused, glances, and Bryant headed back to the bench.

Bryant finally entered in Jones’ place with 4:28 left to play.

“I was going to get Kobe in there,” Tomjanovich said, “and things just started happening.”

Bryant, not completely left out, finished with 31 points and had nine of the Lakers’ final 14, among them two free throws and a three-pointer on consecutive possessions that turned a soft three-point edge into a credible 96-88 lead with 1:44 left.

All told, the Lakers made 10 of 16 shots in the fourth quarter, including six of nine from three-point range, an obvious about-face from a first quarter in which they made five of 26 shots.

Adding to the aura of a quarter in which the Lakers outscored Minnesota, 38-20, was Lamar Odom’s not playing a minute of it, rendered ineffective because of foul trouble.

“It’s not about me,” said Odom, who had five points on two-for-six shooting. “It’s about the Lakers. We won tonight.”

The night included another familiar subplot -- another player telling Bryant which way was the right way.

Minnesota forward Kevin Garnett had wagged a figurative finger at Bryant a day earlier, telling him, through the media, to be careful what he wishes for, as far as the big picture was concerned. Garnett’s take was in response to a question about the Lakers’ apparent reversal of fortune since trading Shaquille O’Neal.

“I’m not Kobe,” Garnett told reporters Sunday. “I don’t know what Kobe wants. I don’t know what Kobe thinks.

“But,” Garnett added wistfully, “be careful what you ask for sometimes.”

After the final three-pointer had dropped Monday, Garnett was contrite, in his own not-so-subtle way.

“It was like Pearl Harbor out there ... just bombs from everywhere,” he said.

“Thirty-eight points is too many points in any sport, and in the fourth quarter, we just can’t do that.”

It initially looked as if Garnett would be commenting Monday after a victory.

The Lakers were within nine points after three quarters, only because Chucky Atkins’ last-second runner trickled in.

“Was that me screeching?” Tomjanovich said afterward, admitting to it with a smile. “That was me.”

Atkins finished with 23 points, and Jones had all 10 of his in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers made 16 of 35 three-point shots, one short of the team records for both makes and attempts from beyond the arc.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Trey Chic

The Lakers fell one short of team records for three-point attempts and three-point field goals during their 105-96 victory over Minnesota on Monday night

*--* MOST THREE-POINT ATTEMPTS 36 vs. MIAMI Dec. 25, 2004 35 at MINNESOTA Jan. 10, 2005 MOST THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS 17 vs. SEATTLE Jan. 7, 2003 16 at MINNESOTA Jan. 10, 2005

*--*