Kobe Has Enough Energy Left to Handle Bibby

While the jubilant Laker fans stuck around Staples Center to cheer Robert Horry, refusing to leave until the guy who hit the three-pointer that beat the Sacramento Kings had finished an on-court interview, the real hero of Game 4 laid his exhausted body on the locker room floor.

Kobe Bryant took on more assignments than an overworked secretary.

His roles are as varied as his baseball jersey collection. He showcased his Derek Jeter Yankee model last series and wore a Boston Red Sox top with Pedro Martinez’s No. 45 on Sunday. Mariano Rivera and Hank Aaron are among those in the closet.

Clutch hitter, ace, closer, slugger--name the task and Bryant can give you the basketball equivalent.

He provided the bulk of their offensive punch in the second quarter, when he scored 13 of the team’s 31 points.

He suggested what has been the most important tactical change of the series.

He shut off the spigot of Sacramento’s offensive flow, point guard Mike Bibby, and reintroduced the Lakers to the concept of defense in the process.

“Defensively tonight is where I really wanted to provide the spark,” said Bryant, who scored 25 points on 12-for-26 shooting in 42 minutes. “We were a little lethargic defensively. I felt like that’s where we needed our energy boost.”

It was Bryant who needed the energy boost postgame. He wrung every ounce out of a thinned body that is still working through the aftereffect of food poisoning a week ago. And when he was through, he needed yet another bag of intravenous fluid to counter his dehydration.

“I felt light-headed during the game and was dead-dog tired,” Bryant said. “I just came in the locker room after the game and had to lie down.”

Saving a season can be exhausting work.

It started in practice Saturday, when he told Coach Phil Jackson that he was willing to take on the assignment of guarding Bibby. Something had to be done, because Bibby has been tearing through the Lakers the way Shawn Green took out the Milwaukee Brewer pitching staff. Jackson was reluctant.

“He said he didn’t want to wear me out the entire game, but I reminded him that’s what I did for this team two years ago, was chase little guards around,” Bryant said. “I’d be more than willing to give myself up to benefit the team if that’s what he wanted me to do.

“If that’s what Phil wants me to do, I’m going to do it.”

Finally, Jackson had no choice after Bibby continued to torch Derek Fisher and Lindsey Hunter in the first quarter of Game 4.

Bibby made five of his first six shots. He didn’t rack up the assists, but his ability to get by the Laker guards wrecked the Laker defense and enabled his teammates to shoot open jumpers.

Down by 24 points, Jackson finally put Bryant on Bibby in the second quarter.

“You saw why it was so long: he got in foul trouble,” Jackson said.

Bryant picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter, when he guarded Bibby almost exclusively. One came on a reach-in at half court.

“Kobe loves to gamble,” Jackson said. “He’s very active defensively and he’s got to be careful out there. We know that he can play [Bibby] for some minutes, but I didn’t want to play him 40 minutes or 48 minutes or 35 minutes, to be honest with you. I thought he could guard him for a couple of quarters.

“We feel like it was worth the gamble. We had to gamble at that particular point. I’m not a person that likes to pull out a lot of gambles, but we had to. We had no other recourse.”

Bryant has a handle on Bibby’s game. They know each other from their childhood days, when their fathers (Joe Bryant and Henry Bibby) played with the Philadelphia 76ers. Kobe and Mike played together in the McDonald’s high school All-American game, before Bryant went to the NBA and Bibby went on to win an NCAA championship at Arizona.

Oh, Bibby had a little something-something for Bryant, including a nasty little crossover that sent Kobe flying and freed Bibby for a jump shot. But Bryant worked to deny Bibby the ball. He hustled to stay in front of him. He harassed him all over the court when Bibby dribbled.

After scoring 14 points in the first 17 minutes, Bibby had only seven the rest of the way. The Kings went from scoring 40 points in the first quarter to scoring 34 in the second half.

“You’ve got to really thank Kobe for that,” Horry said. “He put some pressure on Bibby, the offensive flow kind of stalled. Kobe put a lot of pressure on Bibby and interrupted their groove.”

Bryant called Bibby “an orchestrator.”

“He dictates the tempo out there for the Kings,” Bryant said. “It’s important to make him feel uncomfortable, to get out there and harass him a little bit and not let him get to a point where he can direct the offense like he’s done for the entire playoffs.”

The Kings felt Bryant got a little too up-close and personal. Now it’s their turn to complain about the officiating.

When asked if Bryant’s length made a difference in how he was defended, Bibby chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah,” Bibby said. “He’s more physical too.”

King backup guard Bobby Jackson was even more vocal.

“I can see all the grabbing and holding and all the stuff that they let get away,” Jackson said. “There’s no way possible that that should have been allowed. I think they let a lot of stuff get away in that second half, but we’ve got to be able to counter that.

“And the refs gotta be able to recognize that too. There’s no way [Bibby should be] taken out of the game like that, with all that grabbing and holding that they were doing. Bryant said the non-calls “come with being on the all-defensive team.”

Guess membership has its privileges.

And Bryant has learned his lesson. No more room service.

“I’ve got some enchiladas packed already,” he said.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at: [email protected].