Kings Move Past Lakers

SACRAMENTO — It lasted six days, the Laker stay in seventh in the Western Conference, undone by an old rival that gladly passed them up and sent them down to less desirable circumstances.

Kobe Bryant ran hot and cold, the defensively savvy Ron Artest had a notable game on offense, and the Lakers fell to the Sacramento Kings, 114-98, Tuesday at the noisy-as-always Arco Arena.

Lamar Odom came to play with 24 points on nine-for-12 shooting, but there were few that would join him on the way to the Lakers falling a half-game behind the Kings.

Bryant had 30 points on 12-for-28 shooting, marking a fourth consecutive game in which he failed to make half his shots.

Artest was there in his face, as were double-teams from numerous angles, although Bryant seemed less frustrated with the state of Laker affairs than he did during Sunday’s loss to Seattle.

“Every time I touch the ball, everybody just rotates over to that side of the floor,” he said, matter-of-factly. “They’re trying to stop me from getting into the paint.”

Before the Lakers were stopped most every which way, they were greeted by the usual assortment of tweaks, jabs and otherwise, as the theme song from “Beverly Hills, 90210” blared before the game and a “Beat L.A.” chant reverberated loudly before tip-off.

In between then and the end, as a fan continually waved his “LKERHTR” license plate and a Maloof brother heaved free T-shirts into the crowd, there was the “Will It Break?” contest, in which a kid selected from the crowd correctly guessed that a vacuum would smash to pieces after being dropped from an outdoor crane. It was symbolic of a Laker fourth quarter.

Down by five when it began, they were down 16 with 3:28 to play, their offense dissolving and their defense heaving one last time before going silent.

It was 12 minutes to forget, as Smush Parker’s pass hit Andrew Bynum squarely in the face, and a long Bryant three-point attempt was badly airballed, and King guard Mike Bibby applied the final touches with 15 of his 29 points.

“Sometimes we just go one way and start to play one way and then we just switch,” Odom said quietly in front of his locker. “I don’t understand it. Maybe it’s just youth or chemistry. I hope we catch it, especially by [tonight against Minnesota].”

The Lakers had trouble tracking Artest, better known for his defense. He had 28 points, made four of six three-point attempts, and played all but 59 seconds of the game.

A model citizen so far in Sacramento, he ditched reporters after practice Monday for the first time since the January trade that brought him from Indiana. It was believed he did not want to be quoted as he was last month, when he predicted he would bring down Bryant’s scoring average, only to have Bryant hit for 36 points on 14-for-27 shooting.

Artest had no such trouble Tuesday, at either end.

“You’ve got a player in the mix that’s everything that Sacramento wasn’t when we played them in the playoffs,” Bryant said. “A guy who thinks defense first.”

Odom was determined to erase the thought of his costly late-game charge here in January, bursting out with 12 first-quarter points as the Lakers took a 31-24 lead.

But Bryant had only nine points on four-for-12 shooting in the first half and the Lakers trailed, 54-50. Bryant finally found his shot in the third quarter, making four of six as the Lakers stayed close, 83-78, but never regained the lead.

Going without starting center Chris Mihm and reserve Devean George because of injuries, the Lakers were given only 10 points by their bench.

“I had to play my starters way too many minutes tonight,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “When you’re playing short-handed, that’s what happens. You end up not having enough equipment to go through the game and make the challenge at the end.”

Jackson, though, seemed unperturbed overall.

“Three, four weeks still until it’s over, so there’s a lot to be left before the shouting’s all done,” he said.