ShareThisSACRAMENTO -- That spoiled cheeseburger must have left a really bad taste in his mouth. But thanks for rekindling the memories anyway, Kobe.The Los Angeles Lakers and their best player visited Arco Arena for the first time this season and, for a few fleeting quarters, revived a California rivalry that had fallen on hard times. But once again, with credit shared between Kobe Bryant and the organization's resilience, the rich are recovering more quickly than the Kings.Kobe wasn't traded. Kobe stopped whining.Kobe still soars, especially here in Sacramento.If anyone had forgotten the fourth-quarter ritual, the frequent turn of events when these teams meet here, tune in to the highlight shows. All that was missing were the familiar faces -- Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, Doug Christie, Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson, Mike Bibby -- and the cowbells that long ago were banned from the building.Until the deciding period, the Kings looked like the better team, with Brad Miller orchestrating an offense (a la Divac), Beno Udrih contributing a solid floor game, Ron Artest making Kobe sweat, and the partisan sellout crowd overpowering the smattering of Laker loyalists. There were backdoor cuts, reverse layups, timely follow shots, and a rare one-handed slam by an impassioned Artest.OK, but back to reality. These were the Lakers. The Kings controlled the game until No. 24 (back in the day, of course, he was No. 8) returned after a Phil Jackson-imposed breather and exploded for 17 of his game-high 34 points. Beginning his drives farther out on the perimeter and creating more room against Artest, whose muscular, grinding presence disrupted his rhythm earlier in the evening, the slender 6-foot-6 Bryant repeatedly weaved his way into the lane for spinning layups, power drives and acrobatic dunks.When he wasn't scoring, he was getting fouled, and converting 11 of 12 free throws. "It just started clicking for me," Bryant said after the 117-105 win. "Just by being aggressive, reading the defense, we were able to get it done in the fourth."And not that Kings fans needed any additional reminders of the distance between franchises - how one is rebuilding, the other streaking into contention -- but Kobe, as he so often has through the years, couldn't resist an exclamation point: With 2:29 remaining, he broke downcourt and collected a lead pass from Derek Fisher, then spun 360 degrees and threw down a resounding two-handed jam.In other words, right now the Lakers are lapping the Kings.After an offseason of considerable angst, of Bryant demanding that young Andrew Bynam be traded, of Bryant insisting that he be swapped to a contender, Mitch Kupchak instead fired back and swiped talented Paul Gasol from Memphis in one of the season's most lopsided deals."We made the playoffs in two of the last three years," reminded Kupchak, the embattled general manager, "and in most places, that would be considered pretty successful. But in Los Angeles, the standard is higher. It's been very helpful that ownership has been through down years before, and that Dr. (Jerry) Buss was very supportive of myself and the coaching staff."He knows that it's cyclical, that it usually takes three to four years to get back to where you want to be."Where exactly is that? Where it almost always is.Factor in Bryant's willingness to eat crow (he has since acknowledged being a better player than GM), and the Lakers will continue to tussle with San Antonio, New Orleans, Dallas, Phoenix and Utah.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
It's like old times as Kobe comes alive
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