It was halftime, the Lakers were in trouble, and Kobe Bryant had a brief message for his teammates.
"I told the guys to remember it was just a game, to have fun. Pick up our energy, enjoy the game and we'll be there," he said.
If anyone should know basketball is just a game, it's Bryant.
Just hours after pleading not guilty to a sexual assault charge in Colorado, Bryant scored 42 points Tuesday night to lead the Lakers to a 98-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs and even the Western Conference semifinals 2-2.
"It's our biggest game of the year -- I just wanted to come out and leave it all out on the floor," Bryant said. "I'm tired. I just feel numb right now. Just tired, just want to get some sleep."
Understandably so, considering he spent most of Monday and Tuesday in an Eagle, Colorado, courtroom. Bryant is accused of raping a 19-year-old woman last summer at the Vail-area resort where she worked. He claims the sex was consensual.
Shaquille O'Neal added 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who won by outscoring the Spurs 55-37 after halftime.
A dominating performance, indeed. But Bryant was the story.
"I don't know how he does stuff like that," O'Neal said. "Kobe had a fabulous game and that just shows us what kind of heart he has and what type of character he has. Once again I have to title him as the best player ever."
Bryant was 15-of-27 from the field, made 10 of 13 foul shots and added six rebounds and five assists while playing 45 minutes. He scored 15 of his team's 24 points in the fourth quarter.
"I can't say that I have," Bryant replied when asked if he had ever had a better playoff game.
"Kobe was phenomenal in that second half," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
"It was unbelievable," teammate Karl Malone said. "I have said it before, for what a young man like him went through and to continue and do what he does is pretty incredible."
Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in San Antonio, and Game 6 is Saturday night at Staples Center.
In the only other game Tuesday night, New Jersey beat Detroit 94-79 to tie the Eastern Conference series 2-2.
The other conference semifinals resume Wednesday night, with Indiana at Miami in the East, and Minnesota at Sacramento in the West. Indiana and Minnesota have 2-1 leads.
Bryant arrived in plenty of time for the game and got in about an hour of sleep.
It was the fourth time he played a game following a day in court, including once in the Lakers' first-round series against Houston.
Bryant starred and his team won every time.
"It's very draining," he said. "It feels good to step out on that basketball court, get up and down, compete. It is kind of like a psychiatrist, it takes your mind away from so many things."
Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Tim Duncan had 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Tony Parker added 18 points and eight assists, and Hedo Turkoglu had 16 points and seven rebounds.
"Hats off to Kobe and Shaq," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We just didn't have an answer for them. [Bryant] made some unbelievable shots -- but he's an unbelievable player. It's not like it's an aberration.
"I think everybody's impressed with the way that Kobe is able to compartmentalize. He is going through a tough time. You feel badly for him, for the young lady, for the families, for everybody ... He's handling it the best he can -- he's doing it silently and with class."
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but