Los Angeles ? Kobe Bryant had one of his strangest games Sunday night.
The good: he had 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past the winless Chicago Bulls 102-93.
The bad: He missed nine foul shots including one he tried to bank in, and committed nine of his team’s 17 turnovers.
“Yeah, it was (strange),” Bryant said with a smile. “Well enough for the win. I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
Bryant entered the game having shot 101-of-116 (87.1 percent) from the foul line. He was 8-of-17 in this game, missing six of his first eight attempts.
His eighth try, late in the first period, hit the backboard and the front rim before bouncing away. He said he was, indeed, trying to bank the ball in.
“I shot it a little too hard,” he added.
Bryant shot 4-of-11 from the foul line in the first quarter and 4-of-6 in the final three minutes.
All five Los Angeles starters scored in double figures, and the Lakers (6-5) outscored the Bulls 18-9 to finish the game.
“I think they played good – really good,” Lakers coach Rudy Tomjanovich said of the Bulls. “Kobe had a rare night at the free throw line. That tightened the game up a little bit. We’re going to have games like this. They were smelling that first (win). I feel very fortunate, those guys played their hearts out.”
By losing their eighth straight game, the Bulls are within one loss of tying the 1967-68 team for the worst start in franchise history. They play Monday night at Phoenix against the streaking Suns (8-2), who beat the Clippers 122-111 earlier Sunday at Staples Center.
“We didn’t play a bad game,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. “This was the third game on this trip that we could have won.”
The Bulls have three games left on a seven-game road trip.
“When the time comes to make the big plays in order to win, we’re not able to make them,” Skiles said. “It was a game we felt like we should have won, but we weren’t able to get it. We’re not looking for any medals just because we stayed in the game.”
Caron Butler had 21 points and seven rebounds; Chris Mihm added 18 points and 10 rebounds; Chucky Atkins scored 14 points, and Lamar Odom had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers.
Kirk Hinrich led Chicago with 24 points and a season-high 12 assists. Rookie Luol Deng added 21 points; rookie Ben Gordon scored 15, and Eddy Curry had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls.
Chicago’s starters outscored the reserves 47-46 after being outscored by 35-14 in the first half. Los Angeles’ first-stringers outscored their reserves 94-8.
The Lakers outrebounded the Bulls 52-33.
Hinrich’s fourth 3-pointer of the game tied it 84-all with 5 1/2 minutes remaining. Mihm put the Lakers ahead for good by scoring from underneath 19 seconds later, and Odom’s three-point play with 4:09 left gave the Lakers an 89-84 lead.
Hinrich’s air ball was followed by Butler’s 3-pointer off an assist from Bryant, giving the Lakers an eight-point lead with 3:20 left. Bryant’s long 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with one minute to play made it 99-89 and clinched the victory.
“We were able to play good team defense in the fourth quarter, get some stops when we needed them,” Odom said.
The Lakers outscored the Bulls 27-8 to finish the second quarter and start the third for a 67-53 lead. Bryant scored 10 points and Atkins and Mihm added six each during the run.
But Hinrich made three 3-pointers, and Gordon one during a 16-4 spurt that enabled the Bulls to draw within two points.
It was 73-69 entering the fourth quarter, and three baskets by Curry to start the period gave the Bulls a two-point lead.
“You hate to lose, but at the same time, I think that we are definitely improving as a team,” Curry said. “Once we correct a few things, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t win a lot of games this season.”
Notes: The Bulls and New Orleans Hornets (0-8) are the NBA’s only winless teams. Mihm returned after missing the Lakers’ 107-102 loss at Phoenix on Friday night because of stomach flu. … Tomjanovich believes C Vlade Divac (herniated disk) and Jumaine Jones (strained right calf) will be healthy enough to play sometime this week. … Despite having never started an NBA game, Deng leads the Bulls in scoring. He showed why in the first quarter when he surpassed his previous average of 15.3 points by scoring 17. … Gordon scored 10 points in the second period to surpass his previous average of 7.9.
