Lakers Guess It’s a Victory

The Lakers won a game, allegedly, in a place where they normally don’t fare so well.

The scoreboard would not -- could not -- confirm it, but the final box score verified another strong Kobe Bryant showing and a 103-97 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday at Philips Arena.

The smoke that rolled upward from the scoreboard operator’s courtside unit was one of many problems the Lakers overcame, among them a sleepy first quarter, an even more sluggish second quarter, and a venue that has created Laker pitfalls for reasons not really known.

But Bryant and Smush Parker carried the Lakers to victory, with or without a functioning scoreboard, Bryant scoring 37 points and Parker adding 21, including 13 in a third quarter that helped the Lakers create some space from the winless Hawks.

By the time it was over, the Lakers had improved to 3-1. Reportedly.

Even Bryant had to get in-game updates from Laker TV broadcasters sitting courtside.

“I had no clue,” Bryant said. “I had to keep looking at Stu [Lantz] and Joel [Meyers] to get the score of the game.”

The Lakers weren’t nearly as laughable as their last appearance here, when they trailed by 29 in the second quarter and became part of only 13 Hawk victories last season.

They had been 2-3 in their last five trips here, and were trailing, 51-48, at halftime. Only Bryant was active in the first half, trailing the aggregate total of his teammates by a point, 22-21, with two minutes left until halftime.

Lamar Odom didn’t make a shot until halfway through the second quarter. Chris Mihm, who couldn’t be stopped Sunday against the Denver Nuggets, couldn’t stop fouling the Hawks, picking up two in the first five minutes and becoming a non-factor (two points).

But the Lakers, behind Bryant and Parker, took the third quarter, 31-18, and were never threatened again. Bryant had 10 points and Parker made all five of his shots in the quarter, including two three-pointers, to help boost his scoring average to 17.8 points.

Parker has been making open shots -- a key element for the Lakers, considering the numerous double-teams Bryant faces -- and made seven of nine against the Hawks. For the season, he has made 27 of 45 shots (60%).

“I feel comfortable out there in the triangle offense,” Parker said. “I have great teammates that make plays and find me when I’m open.”

Parker’s play helped the Lakers forget about the scoreboard, which first crashed with 9:40 left in the second quarter, causing a 10-minute delay, and again with 4:03 left in the quarter, the problem traced to a courtside unit.

“It was on fire,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said.

Without a shot clock or game clock, the Hawks’ public-address announcer was forced to call out the time left on a courtside shot clock, possession after possession.

“Fifteen seconds...10 seconds...five seconds...three seconds...one second...”

To some Lakers, it appeared a bit skewed.

“He’d be like, ‘Five, four, three...,’ and then they’d bobble the ball, ‘...three, two, one,’ ” forward Devean George said. “Then [Brian Cook] had one, it was like ‘fivefourthreetwoone.’ ”

There were enough successful Laker possessions, many ended by Bryant, who made 15 of 26 shots on the day his agent announced that Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, was pregnant with the couple’s second child.

One of the few times Bryant was held in check came on Joe Johnson’s hard foul with 6:21 left in the second quarter. Bryant fell to the ground, got up flexing his right hand and was diagnosed with a bruised right wrist.

“They know you’ve got to wrap me up,” Bryant said. “If I’m going to have one hand free, I’m going to try to put the ball in the basket. He did what he was supposed to do. I don’t think he was trying to hurt me or anything like that at all.”