Bryant’s Points Have Meaning

The 33 points Wednesday at Chicago were impressive, a career high for the third time in four games, but also somewhat meaningless. Sixteen came in the fourth quarter of a rout.

Likewise the 30 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, when Kobe Bryant scored 14 in the final period of a blowout.

And the 27 points two days before that, 18 of which came in the final 12 minutes.

Friday, Bryant scored 19 points. And it was a better showing than any of those that came in the days before.

“Yeah,� Coach Del Harris said after the 98-96 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. “Tonight, he was huge.

“It’s good, because not everybody can do that anyway, no matter the score and the time they had. I think it did help him for tonight. In terms of performance, I would rate this higher because it was under extreme duress. The other times, it was like, ‘Yeah, I’m out here, rolling along.’ �

That was in the nothing-to-lose mode. This one was much different, in a tight game. So to score nine points in the fourth quarter of a game the Lakers ended up winning by two, that meant more.

“I never thought about it,� Bryant said.

TONIGHT

at Charlotte

5 PST

Channel 9

Site--Charlotte Coliseum.

Radio--KLAC (570).

Records--Lakers 19-6, Hornets 15-8.

Record vs. Hornets (1996-97)--1-1.

Update--Even after losing big Friday night at Washington, the Hornets are two games ahead of the previous best start in team history. But interest has fallen off, relatively speaking, around Charlotte. No longer is there a collegiate atmosphere for every home game, and team officials, after hoping to keep a bogus streak for consecutive sellouts alive, now even acknowledge it when the Coliseum falls short of capacity.