OKLAHOMA CITY — On those nights where the Lakers find themselves in a jam on the road, disintegrating in front of a loud crowd that doesn't seem to care about the mediocrity of its own team, there's that one element separating them from almost everybody else.
They have Kobe Bryant on their payroll.
Bryant checked into the game, finally winning a minor battle of wills with Coach Phil Jackson, and guided the Lakers to a 107-93 victory Tuesday over the pesky Oklahoma City Thunder at an impressively raucous Ford Center.
Bryant scored 15 points in the final 9:14, pushing the Lakers from a sketchy 79-77 lead to a fifth consecutive victory.
He finished with 36 points on an efficient 13-for-21 shooting as the Lakers (47-10) improved to 21-6 on the road and maintained their distance over Boston (46-12) and Cleveland (44-11) in the hunt for the league's best record.
To some, it's old hat, almost cliche: Bryant wins game with late burst.
But Derek Fisher, who has played with Bryant for most of his 13-year career, still derives some enjoyment out of it.
"He doesn't really do anything that amazes me any more but it's just fun to observe, even as a teammate, his ability to just make his mind up -- 'OK, this is what I'm going to go do,' " Fisher said. "I don't know if there's anybody in our game than can consistently match that ability. I know I'm biased, but it's impressive to me."
The Lakers' 18-point lead in the second quarter had been trimmed to 10 when Bryant checked out with 2:40 left in the third quarter.
Bryant then became increasingly antsy on the bench as the Thunder (13-44) stormed back, closing to within two points by the time he re-entered with 9:17 to play.
He wanted to check in earlier in the fourth quarter, but Jackson wanted him to conserve strength.
"I just had to get up and check myself in," Bryant said. "One thing we don't want to do here is get the crowd going. The crowd got going, got them into the game, and with a young team, they feed off of that. I just couldn't wait any longer. I had to go in and try to stop that momentum a little bit."
Said Jackson: "I didn't want him to have to spend that much time on the floor, but the game kept getting stinkier as it went along. He went in, hit the first shot he got and was very confident from then on."
Bryant bailed the Lakers out of a tense game two weeks ago against the Thunder with a 34-point effort in a 105-98 home victory.
