Kobe Bryant had the ball and the game in his hands as the final seconds ticked past Friday night.

Calmly, coolly, collectedly, he backed Jarrett Jack toward the basket. When he reached the free-throw line, Bryant squared his body to the basket and fired.

Swish.

Bedlam ensued.

Bryant’s 18-foot jump shot with three seconds remaining lifted the Lakers to a 121-119 victory over Jack and the Indiana Pacers in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center.

Lifted? Rescued was more like it.

Bryant scored a team-leading 36 points on 10-for-20 shooting. He made 15 of 17 free throws and added a season-high 13 assists and seven rebounds in 42 minutes. Nothing compared to his go-ahead jumper

with the game on the line, however.”That’s what he does, that’s the reason he’s Kobe Bryant,” Andrew Bynum said of his teammate. “You give him the ball and he makes it.”

Indiana’s Mike Dunleavy Jr. had tied the score at 119, making a 3-pointer with 26.4 seconds left, and the Lakers hurried the ball into the frontcourt without pausing to take a timeout. Bryant worked himself into prime scoring position and delivered.

The Pacers bungled their final chance to tie the score or take the lead, with Jeff Foster releasing a 20-foot jump shot that was too short and too late. The final buzzer sounded while the ball was still in his hands.

Indiana won the first game between the teams on Troy Murphy’s tip-in at the buzzer

on Dec. 2 in Indianapolis. So, despite a yawning gap between the teams in the overall standings, it wasn’t a complete shock to see the teams battle to the buzzer again.The Pacers (13-23) might be the best lousy team in the league. In addition to their earlier victory over the Lakers (29-6), they have beaten the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns. They also lost to the Celtics in double overtime.

They certainly earned the Lakers’ respect Friday.

“Everyone on their team is an offensive threat,” Bynum said. “If you fall off someone, everyone else has the ability to make a shot.”

Danny Granger led the Pacers by scoring 28 points but fouled out at a critical point with 47 seconds left reaching in while trying to defend Bryant, who made two free throws. Murphy added 24 points and Dunleavy had 22.

The 6-foot-3 Jack had only three points and was left alone against the 6-6 Bryant in the closing seconds. The Pacers decided against double-teaming Bryant.

“(Jack) defended it well, but Kobe makes big shots,” Indiana coach Jim O’Brien said. “He’s a great player. He makes big shots when they needed him to.”

The Lakers played without regulars Lamar Odom (right knee), Luke Walton (right foot) and Jordan Farmar (left knee), which meant Vladimir Radmanovic started in Walton’s small forward spot for the third consecutive game.

Radmanovic went scoreless and missed three shots Wednesday against Golden State and had three points on 1-for-7 shooting Tuesday against New Orleans, giving Lakers coach Phil Jackson pause before Friday’s game against Indiana.

“He really hasn’t merited starting, there’s no doubt about it,” Jackson said before the game when asked about Radmanovic’s play. “He had a good game coming off the bench (scoring a season-high 16 points against Portland last Sunday).

“Now with Luke and Lamar out … we’re almost forced to use him in the early minutes and hope he gives us something in the process.”

Radmanovic responded by making his first three shots and scoring eight points. His early success helped set the tone for a standout shooting performance from the Lakers, who shot 56.4 percent. Indiana shot 48.8 percent.

The Lakers set season highs for points in a first quarter (41) and a half (68) en route to a 96-84 lead going into the fourth quarter.

They scored more than 96 points through three quarters only once this season, recording 102 while setting a season-high with 130 points during a Dec. 28 victory over Golden State.

The only trouble was that the Pacers stuck to them like lint on a winter sweater. The Lakers’ lead would not last as the Pacers rallied to tie in the closing seconds.

Check this video/commercial of Kobe rocking to Guitar Hero.  He should go into the entertainment business after retirement.

Vladimir Radmanovic slipped behind a pack of defenders a few minutes into the Lakers’ game Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors. Kobe Bryant lobbed a pass to him and he leaped to catch the ball and dunk it in one crowd-pleasing movement.Yes, it would be that kind of night for the Lakers.

Even the normally earth-bound Radmanovic, better known for his fine perimeter shooting, would throw down a thunderous dunk during the Lakers’ all-too-predictable 112-99 victory over Toronto at Staples Center.

The Lakers raced toward the basket again and again, dunking repeatedly against the Raptors’ porous defense en route to their seventh consecutive victory and their 14th win in 15 games to start the season.

The best start in team history is 16-1, set in 2001-02, and it could be eclipsed during the Lakers’ three-game trip this week to play Indiana, Philadelphia and Washington. Not one of the three teams had a .500 record as of Sunday.

Pau Gasol scored 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting and added nine rebounds to lead the Lakers past the Raptors. Kobe Bryant had 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting and added a season-high seven assists. Andrew Bynum had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Neither Gasol nor Bryant played in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers’ lead swelled to as many as 20 points. Bynum was the only starter to play in the fourth. The Lakers trailed only once, at 23-21, with 4:41 remaining in the first quarter.

Certain games, you have to put your foot on the throttle and let the other team know it’s going to be a long night for them,” Bryant said.

“You kind of pick your spots, which I’m able to do with this team, as opposed to the past, where you’d start the game and have to have your foot on the gas for 48 minutes.”

Radmanovic finished with nine points, one of a number of role players who made it impossible for the Raptors to keep pace with the Lakers. Anthony Parker scored 19 points to lead Toronto (8-8), and Andrea Bargnani had 14.

“We expect to win every night, that’s how good of a team we are, that’s how good we want to be and have to be,” Gasol said. “We have great expectations and great ambition, so we’re going out there to win every night.”

Bryant went into Sunday’s game needing 38 points to reach 22,000 for his career. If he scored 38 or more against Toronto, he would have become the youngest player in league history to reach the milestone at 30 years, 99 days.

Wilt Chamberlain scored 22,000 points when he was 30 years, 100 days.

On a quiet Sunday evening almost three years ago, Bryant dropped 81 points on the Raptors, the second-highest scoring total in league history behind Chamberlain’s staggering 100-point outburst in March 1963.

Bryant never came close to hitting 81 on this Sunday against the Raptors, but he had 38 in his sights as the first half wound to a close. He had 21 points by halftime, making 8 of 11 shots and all five of his free throws to guide the Lakers to a 61-51 lead.

If there has been one asterisk affixed to the Lakers’ blazing 14-1 start, it’s that just four of those games have come away from the comforts of the Staples Center.

That’s what passes for angst in what’s has become one of the breeziest starts in Lakers history.

But like most issues that have come up for what used to be one of the NBA’s most dramatically-bent teams, this one should come to a quick resolution, or solution, as the Lakers leave town for a three-game road trip with stops in Indiana (tonight), Philadelphia on Wednesday and Washington on Friday.

“An outsider might say they had all their games at home, but we say we’re taking care of business at home,” Lakers forward Lamar Odom said. “(Going on the road) won’t be different for us. We’ll come out and do the same thing, try and play a defensive game at first, make teams uncomfortable and try to wear them down.”

Last week, Lakers owner Jerry Buss suggested that the true measure of this year’s team would come when it plays the best teams in the Eastern Conference on the road.

These next three teams don’t exactly fit the criteria. Coming into tonight’s game, the Pacers, Sixers and Wizards were a combined 15-32.

Nevertheless, Lakers coach Phil Jackson warned about being overconfident.

“The tempo of the game changes (on the road),” Jackson said. “There is more control and we have to be more concerned about things. We have to be more concerned about controlling

the game with fewer turnovers, less fouls and for less opportunities for our opponents to win.”Last season, the Lakers tied Orlando with the second-best road record in the league (27-14). Boston (31-10) had the best road mark.

“We were a pretty good road team last year,” Kobe Bryant said. “We feel pretty confident about going into other teams arenas and winning games. We just focused on doing what we have to do.”

Who says it’s a contract year?: Odom is averaging a career-low 7.5 field goal attempts this year in a career-low 25 minutes a game in his new role as the Lakers’ sixth man. But after taking just three shots in 29 minutes in Sunday’s win over the Raptors, Odom said that was less about playing time and more about the way the Lakers have been sharing the ball this season.

“The game is called basketball, not shoot,” he said. “You can play a complete basketball game without shooting a lot of shots. There aren’t too many guys that can do it, I just happen to be one of them.”

Odom finished with three points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals in Sunday’s game.

Fisher weighs in on Marbury mess: As president of the NBA Players Association Derek Fisher has been keeping an eye on the growing debacle swirling around the Knicks and embattled guard Stephon Marbury.

The two parties met in New York on Monday to try and discuss a resolution to the quickly degenerating situation.

The Knicks had deactivated Marbury in the early part of the season, but required him to attend all team activities. Late last week the team suspended him without pay for one game for refusing to play in two games earlier in the week. Marbury disputes that allegation.

Now he’s being told to just stay away from the team indefinitely.

“It’s just a bad situation. It’s a no-win situation,” Fisher said. “I think the main thing is just that teams don’t take advantage of the employee-employer relationship, that they don’t try to pile on with fines and suspensions.

“I think the best thing for all sides is for there to be some resolution. What exactly that is, I won’t know that until I’m briefed on how the meetings go. But I think that’s the best thing for all parties involved.

“They’ve got to figure something out so everyone can move on.”

Our boy Kobe Bryant in action..

With only one game to play this week, the Lakers had to find other ways to motivate themselves in practice. Simply maintaining the status quo was not an option, according to superstar guard Kobe Bryant.

“I think we’ve done a good job of coming here and doing what we have to do and accomplish what we have to accomplish,” he said after Friday’s workout. “That’s our message for the week: We can be good or we can be great.”

This could have been a challenging week for the Lakers, with a day off Sunday followed by two days of practice, followed by an 18-point win over the Clippers, followed by a day off, followed by two days of practice to get ready for Sunday’s game against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

“This is a time we can use to get better, to make another step forward,” Bryant said. “It’s tough to learn too much about yourself at this time of the year. The important thing is to rack up wins and try to get better.”

So far, so good for the undefeated Lakers, who are 4-0 for the first time since starting the 2003-04 season with a 5-0 record.

The Lakers have defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, the Clippers (twice) and the Denver Nuggets to start the season. But the road ahead gets tougher, mainly because of the quality of the competition.

After facing the Rockets, the Lakers hit the road to play the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday and the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday. Then they return home to play the Detroit Pistons on Friday.”What we’re made of,” sixth man Lamar Odom said when asked what he expects the Lakers to learn during their four-game stretch against difficult opponents next week. “How we want to play. How we want to define ourselves. Do it early in the year. It’s going to be a battle. Just like every game is.”

Check out the latest Kobe live interview on Jimmy Kimmel.  Funny!

This is a bunch of crap.  How are you going to trash on our boy Kobe Bryant after getting dismissed from the playoffs two rounds earlier than Kobe.  Ok, you won a championship in Miami.  Whatever.  Kobe still dominates and you suck now.  Sorry for the rant but watch this video and Kobe fans – be disgusted.

Unlike the media, we are not going to bash Kobe, for not winning a title. 2007-08 MVP! And leading his team to the NBA finals. Out of the West, that is quite a feat. He did about all he could, the Celtics were better, and played great defense on him. No shame Kobe. We still feel you are the best player in the game, and probably of all time. Let’s take a look at some of Kobe’s numbers, and we aren’t even going to analyze them, just simply give you the chance to take a look at them,

2008 season

• 82 games(WOW)
• 38.5 minutes per game
• 45.9% from the field
• 36.1% from three point
• 84.0% from free throw
• 6.3 rebounds per game
• 5.4 assists per game
• 3.1 turnovers per game
• 1.8 steals per game
• 28.3 points per game

2008 playoffs

• 21 games
• 41.1 minutes per game
• 48.0% from the field
• 30.2% from 3 point.
• 80.9% from free throw
• 119 total rebounds
• 117 total assists
• 70 total turnovers
• 35 total steals
• 633 total points

Career Stats

• 866 games
• 36.3 minutes per game
• 45.3% from the field
• 34.0% from 3 point
• 83.9% from free throw
• 5.3 rebounds per game
• 4.6 assists per game
• 2.9 turnovers per game
• 1.5 steals per game
• 25.0 points per game