Laker Win Is Moving on Emotional Night

The Lakers finally lost their tenuous hold on eighth place in the Western Conference, eagerly, elatedly, and without regret.

The playoff landscape doesn’t look quite as tricky from their new perch, virtually tied for seventh in the West with New Orleans/Oklahoma City by defeating the Hornets, 113-107, in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 17,744 Wednesday at New Orleans Arena.

Kobe Bryant made a woeful shooting night disappear with 13 points in the final six minutes, Smush Parker employed a hammer in the visitors’ locker room after picking up some last-minute vindication of his own, and Lamar Odom showed what he could do with his new green-light status from Coach Phil Jackson.

It was Jackson who put “Make Up Ground” on the board in the locker room, and so the Lakers did.

More preoccupied recently with hanging on to eighth by fending off Sacramento and Utah, the Lakers jumped at the chance to actually move up a notch. The Hornets, playing their first game in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina hit in August, were pulled down to a 31-29 record, the standings equivalent of the Lakers’ 32-30.

“Hopefully we can just keep moving up with some ‘W’s,” Odom said.

Bryant saved the Lakers after almost sinking them, making six of his last seven shots after going six for 26 before that. He finished with 40 points, his fourth consecutive game of 40 or more.

Odom, told by Jackson to start shooting more, did as requested, making six of 14 shots, scoring 18 points, taking 17 rebounds and adding six assists.

And Parker, the victim of a Darius Miles steal in the final seconds of an embarrassing loss to Portland last week, had the play of the game, stripping Hornet guard Chris Paul of the ball and feeding Odom for a dunk with 40.9 seconds left, providing a 106-101 lead and vindication for Parker.

“I went to work today,” Parker said afterward, jamming a hammer into one of the belt loops of his jeans. “I just felt I had to get that play back -- a stop on defense or a steal.”

The hammer, used by Parker earlier in the day at a charitable home-building event, also served as metaphor for the Lakers.

Staggered yet again by a poor third quarter that had the Hornets leading by six at one point, the Lakers pounded back, with Bryant’s 10-footer tying it at 93-93 with 5:54 to play. He would hit again and again, from 21 feet, then from three-point range, and again from the right wing, followed by a 19-foot turnaround that gave the Lakers a 104-101 lead with 59.3 seconds left.

“I don’t really feel pressure,” he said. “When the bell rings and you have to step up and make big plays, you’d want to be able to do that more often than not.”

Bryant was pretty much the only Laker not making shots in the first half, missing 10 of 14, but the rest of the Lakers made 17 of 27 as they pushed toward a 58-52 halftime lead.

The advantage, of course, would shrink by the time the fourth quarter began, another slow third quarter leading to a slender 81-80 lead.

The game was still undecided until Parker blindsided Paul near the top of the key. Parker added another steal, this time dunking it himself, for a 110-101 lead with 19.5 seconds to play.

“It was a need situation,” Jackson said. “They understood it, and played to it.”

In broad-brush strokes, the backdrop of the first pro game in New Orleans since Katrina was larger than most everything else, a concept not lost on players from both sides.

“I think we did think about that a little bit,” Odom said. “It was a lot of fun to come out here and give them a show. I’m glad it turned out the way it was with a ‘W,’ but I’m glad they got a good game.”

Or, the alternative viewpoint, supplied by Hornet guard Speedy Claxton: “It was a great homecoming. We only wish we could have given them a win.”