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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kobe Bryant lives for the fourth quarter of close games.
Bryant picked up the Lakers by scoring nine consecutive points
in the final period as Los Angeles defeated first-place Portland
93-80 Friday night.
|  | | Mr Pippen, meet Mr. O'Neal. |
"Whenever a situation gets tight like that, you just have
instincts to step up to the plate," he said. " We all did an
excellent job with that, especially defensively."
Bryant finished with 23 points in his second game since
returning from a broken right hand suffered in the preseason.
Wearing a protective glove on his shooting hand, he came off the
bench and hit 11 of 13 free throws.
"He is fully of energy and we saw a little opportunity to run
some things for him right at the end of the game," Lakers coach
Phil Jackson said. "He took advantage of it, went to the basket,
got a couple fouls and did some things that I thought really gave
us the spark to push us over the edge."
Bryant also played well defensively, including a big block of Scottie Pippenwith two minutes left.
"I didn't even see him," Pippen said.
Shaquille O'Neal had 21 points and 16 rebounds while playing 47
minutes, and Ron Harper added 18 points for the Lakers, who closed to a half-game behind the Blazers in the Pacific Division.
Damon Stoudamire led the Blazers with 23 points, hitting all eight of his free-throw attempts. Steve Smith had 18 points and Rasheed Wallace 17 for Portland.
The Lakers broke the game open with a 22-6 run over the end of
the third quarter and start of the fourth. A.C. Green launched the
spurt with five straight points to tie the game at 59. Glen Rice hit 3 of 4 free throws to send the Lakers into the fourth leading
62-59.
O'Neal scored the Lakers' first five points of the final period,
Derek Fisher followed with five in a row, then Bryant scored their next five for a 77-65 lead with 5:50 remaining.
After another basket by Bryant put the Lakers ahead by 12
points, the Blazers briefly came alive. Portland closed to 79-74
with seven straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from Detlef Schrempf with 3:11 remaining.
But Bryant wasn't finished. He hit a jumper and Harper beat the
shot-clock buzzer for a basket. Bryant made one of two free throws
for an 84-74 lead with 49 seconds left.
"We had a hard time making shots and then I thought a couple
times, particularly in the fourth quarter, we let penetration beat
us," Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said.
Hard-nosed defense contributed to shooting struggles for both teams. The Lakers hit 36 percent to
Portland's 34 percent.
"It was a tough night to shoot," Jackson said. "We were
taking the ball a lot of times to them. There were a lot of blocked
shots or tipped shots."
Portland led most of the third period, taking its largest lead five points on a fast-break dunk by Brian Grant. The Lakers regained control for good when Green ran off five straight points.
The Lakers blew a nine-point lead and trailed by seven after the first quarter, when Stoudamire had 14 points for the Blazers.
Bryant's three-point play tied the game at 30. The Lakers went
on to lead 37-36 at halftime after outscoring Portland 18-11 in the
second period.
Game notes
There was no round two between Shaquille O'Neal and
Jermaine O'Neal, who is on the injured list. Shaq was ejected and Jermaine received a technical for a shoving match when the Blazers
won 97-82 last month in Portland. ... Pippen finished with five
points on 2-of-5 shooting. He's 44 points away from 16,000 in his
13-year career.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Portland Clubhouse
LA Lakers Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 96
Miami 84
Toronto 95
Washington 93
Philadelphia 102
Cleveland 100
Detroit 102
San Antonio 80
Indiana 100
Utah 75
Orlando 112
Denver 100
Charlotte 113
Vancouver 94
LA Lakers 93
Portland 80
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