Bryant Sees Cook’s Touch as a Recipe for More Success

Chris Mihm was out, Lamar Odom was limited, the Lakers were languishing.

Their front court was banged up and barren, and Kobe Bryant was being hounded by a mess of double-teams, which left just enough of an opening for Brian Cook to slip into a career-best groove.

Cook followed up his career-high 28-point outburst in Dallas with 27 points Wednesday in Houston, making a combined 23 of 34 shots in the games. A third-year forward with a soft touch, he has been making open shots on the weak side of the court as teams send two, sometimes three, defenders at Bryant.

“If people are running at Kobe, there’s going to be other people open and people just need to step up,” Cook said. “It might not be me, it might have to be someone else every given night. We’re moving the ball well and I’m just knocking down shots.”

Cook, averaging 7.7 points and three rebounds, helped the Lakers overcome a 2-5 patch in which teams began forcing the ball out of Bryant’s hands with half-court traps.

“I think the guys are kind of settling in to how defenses are playing us,” Bryant said. “Now when those shots come, they’re expecting them to come. They can be confident and settle into that shot and stroke it.”

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Bryant figured the response to his first Nike commercial would be parallel to the reaction he gets overall.

“Some people will like it, some people won’t,” he said. “Some people like ‘81,’ some people don’t. I could really care less.”

The commercial, which debuted Thursday night, starts with Bryant shooting free throws and ends with his going through a series of drills during a “love me or hate me” narration. It is his first TV spot with the shoe company since signing a five-year, $45-million endorsement deal in June 2003. He was accused of sexual assault in July 2003, and charges were dropped in September 2004.

The commercial is tied to his first Nike signature shoe, the Zoom Kobe I.

“What we talked about is doing something that is true to form, something that’s real, something that’s honest, something that’s not pitching a product, not selling a shoe,” Bryant said. “We’re not selling an image, we’re not here to polish up my image or clean anything up. We just want to be real and be honest.

“Some people will look at that and understand where we’re coming from and understand the inspiration behind it. Some people won’t. It’s basically that simple.”

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Bryant, voted a starter in the Feb. 19 All-Star game, will take part in the “team shootout” competition the day before, playing with Magic Johnson and Lisa Leslie on the Los Angeles team. “It’s just something fun,” Bryant said. “You get a chance to shoot around with Magic -- how cool is that?” ... With their victory over Houston, the Lakers improved to 4-8 in the second game of back-to-back situations, a major problem last season when they went 5-14 in such games.

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Home stretch

* Saturday: Memphis...FSNW, 7:30 p.m.

* Monday: Utah...FSNW, 7:30 p.m.

* Wednesday: Atlanta...FSNW, 7:30 p.m.

* Feb. 21: Portland...FSNW, 7:30 p.m.

* Feb. 23: Sacramento...TNT, 7:30 p.m.

* Feb. 24: at Clippers...Chs. 5, 9, ESPN, 7:30 p.m.

* Feb. 26: Boston...FSNW, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

* Feb. 28: Orlando...FSNW, 7:30 p.m.