USA - Bryant scores 52 after third quarter explosion in win over Jazz

LOS ANGELES (NBA) - What kind of impact will Kobe Bryant make if he plays for Team USA at the FIBA Americas Championship next summer in Las Vegas?

Let's just say he'll add some offensive firepower.

On Thursday with the Los Angeles Lakers, he showed he takes over games like few players can.

Bryant scored 52 points as LA downed the red-hot Utah Jazz, 132-102.

The 28-year-old made 19 of 26 shots and scored 30 in the third quarter as his team won their ninth home game in 11 outings.

"I was really, really hot tonight," Bryant said.

"I didn't miss. I knew I was feeling it when I had a one-leg runner fading away. Then I knew it was a pretty good night."

Two things make this performance remarkable.

Bryant had knee surgery in the summer, and he didn't just score 52 points against any team.

He did it against the Jazz, one of the real success stories so far this season.

Carlos Boozer, Utah’s best player, said: "Kobe got hot. "We had hands in his face, but he still made shots. We didn't come back. We didn't shoot enough to weather that storm. We let him get going, and that's the game when you let him get going."

Last season's scoring champ, Bryant showed the same fire and accuracy that helped him set a franchise record with 27 40-point games in 2005-06 - including six 50-point outings and that incredible 81 points against Toronto on January 22, the second-highest total in NBA history.

Bryant tied his own franchise mark for most points in a quarter.

He hit 11 consecutive shots at one point in the third period and had the fans at Staples Center chanting "MVP, MVP" midway through the quarter.

His 30-point performance in the third put him in elite company.

George Gervin set the league record for points in a quarter with 33 on April 9, 1978 and David Thompson scored 32 that same day.

Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain had 31 in a session en route to his unprecedented 100-point game on March 2, 1962.

"There was a combination of the things that he did tonight," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

"Maybe not as dramatic perhaps as in the past, but there was still plenty of fire there."

Bryant was virtually unstoppable in the third, making all nine of his shots from the floor.

When the Jazz fouled him, he made all 10 of his free throws.

In the third, he scored nine of the Lakers' first 11 points, including a three-point play with 8:36 left for a 64-51 advantage.

"Kobe just lifts the spirit of everyone the team," Lakers team-mate Maurice Evans said.

"Now everyone is really involved and anticipating his next move. We are trying to get to the boards when he misses. I think we did a good job of feeding off the momentum he supplies."

Later in the third, Bryant hit back-to-back three-pointers and five straight free throws during a stretch in which he scored 14 consecutive points for Los Angeles, which held a 95-73 lead after three quarters.

"Just in the flow of the game," Bryant said.

"Just as needed. I don't want to go out there and make a circus of the situation. I just want to go out there and play."

His point haul would have been bigger if Jackson had not rested him for most of the fourth.

He did not even score in the final quarter, leaving him five points shy of the league's season high set by Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks, who coincidentally scored 57 against Utah on November 11.

"I don't think there's anything we could have done," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

"We couldn't get close enough to guard (Bryant). When he caught the ball and got on a roll, he just made whatever he caught. It didn't make a difference."

Pistons win against Miami

In Thursday's other game, Richard Hamilton took charge in the second half to enable the Detroit Pistons to continue their winning ways against Miami. Hamilton scored 24 points, Tayshaun Prince had 12 and Chauncey Billups 11 to lead the Pistons to their seventh consecutive victory, an 87-85 triumph over the Heat.

PA Sport