V for Vendetta

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe Bryant went to the movies Sunday night. Someone there recognized him -- duh -- and offered the following: ''Paul is going to lock you up." Bryant got a chuckle out of that, because he knows, as does Paul Pierce, that no one really ever locks up Kobe. (We'll leave it at that.) And no one did last night, for sure.

The Lakers' supernova needed 39 shots to score 43 points, but, as he put it bluntly after Los Angeles's 105-97 victory, ''I gotta do what I gotta do to help us win. I don't care if it's 50 shots, 60 shots, five shots. I'm just doing what I need to do. When the game is on the line, put the ball in my hands."

Bryant had 16 of his 43 in the fourth quarter (on 6-of-10 shooting) and no one not named Kobe scored a single point for the Lakers in the final eight minutes. It was a huge win for the Lakers who, as coach Phil Jackson stated before the game, have the playoffs as their mission for the season. The Lakers are fighting with the Kings for the No. 7 spot, and with 10 of their last 13 at home (including tomorrow night against the Kings), they conceivably could move even higher.

What to make of this group, which was in Boston for the first and only time last night? What Jackson sees is a young team (sixth-youngest in the NBA) that doesn't execute all that well, loses too many close games, but, at the end of the day, has some talented players who seem to be figuring things out at the right time.

Lamar Odom came up big last night (17 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists) after flirting with a triple-double for three straight games. The once-lost Kwame Brown, now starting for the injured Chris Mihm (ankle), had 11 points and nine rebounds and, according to Jackson, has accepted his role and needn't worry about such superfluous stuff as, um, scoring.

Kobe was Kobe, warts and all. He didn't make a 3-pointer (0 of 5). He missed three free throws. But he had five steals to go with his 43 points and, listening to him afterward, you'd think he could have had 60 had the officials seen things the way he saw them.

''Crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy," Bryant said, when asked about the many non-calls that came his way. He can't afford to beef too much because he's nearing the 16-technical mark, which results in a one-game suspension. ''You just go through it. The shots I was hitting in the fourth quarter, they were hitting me on the arm."

Asked about Bryant's situation with the officials, Jackson said, ''I don't think there is anything, and the more attention you draw to it, the worse it becomes. So it's better to shut up and swallow your pride."

Jackson put the Western Conference powers-that-be on notice before the game, when he said he was quite comfortable with the current playoff situation, which could have the Lakers playing the Spurs, Mavericks, or Suns in the first round. When asked how he could be comfortable playing a team with 20 more wins, Jackson feigned surprise.

''You saw our games against San Antonio and Dallas," Jackson told an apparent apostate of the LA traveling media. ''We play well with them. We still have two games left with Phoenix. So we have some sense of confidence against the teams that are bracketed against us if the playoffs were to start today."

Asked about Jackson's comment, Bryant shrugged. He doesn't care about the opponent, as long as they play somebody. ''I'm comfortable with whoever," he said.</div>

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">''We've been able to hold our own against a lot of teams in this league," Jackson said. ''In the West, we feel very comfortable about the opponents we [might] face. We have to perfect some things, but we're a pretty good team."

Bryant likes the fact the Lakers are still very much a work-in-progress.

''We're still evolving," he said. ''We're still understanding concepts. The biggest change in this ball club now is the play of Lamar. He's really understanding the fluidity of the game, how to execute the offense. He's gotten more comfortable, and as a result, that gives us a big, big boost."

How big remains to be seen. But the movie Bryant saw on Sunday? <font size=""5"">''V for Vendetta."</font></div>

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