Kobe's Late Jumper Leads Lakers Past Raptors
TORONTO (AP) Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto.
Bryant, who scored 27 points, took an inbound pass from Metta World Peace and shot over the outstretched arms of James Johnson to deny the Raptors, who battled back after trailing by as many as 18.
Down 93-92, Toronto blew its best chance for a winning shot when Rasual Butler couldn't inbound the ball and failed to call a timeout before five seconds had elapsed. Bryant made one of two from the line to put the Lakers up by two with 3.7 seconds left.
Jose Calderon inbounded to DeMar DeRozan for the final possession, but he airballed his potential game-tying shot at the buzzer.
Pau Gasol had 16 points and 17 rebounds and Andrew Bynum scored 14 for the Lakers, who went 3-3 on the road trip.
Calderon scored a career-high 30 points for the Raptors, who lost for the seventh time in 10 games. Linas Kleiza added 15 and Leandro Barbosa had 12.
Calderon hit two 3-pointers with less than 5 minutes left to tie the score at 84-84. After a missed jumper by Bryant, DeRozan fed Ed Davis for a fast break dunk, giving Toronto its first lead of the game. Bryant missed again before Linas Kleiza made a driving hook shot, putting the Raptors up 88-84 with 2:12 remaining.
The Raptors led 90-86 with just over a minute left but were on the wrong end of a video review. Bryant made them pay with a 3, then forced a steal and assisted on a driving layup by World Peace, putting the Lakers up 91-90 with 31 seconds left.
Calderon restored Toronto's lead with a pull-up jumper, his 13th field goal of the game, giving the Raptors a 92-91 edge with 16 seconds to go.
That's when Bryant made his decisive shot, evading two Toronto defenders to get open along the baseline.
NOTES: Calderon's previous career-high was 27 against San Antonio on Feb. 11, 2008. ... Andrea Bargnani, who sat for the 16th time in 18 games Sunday with a strained left calf, has been doing plenty of pool work in his rehab. "His new nickname is Flipper," Raptors coach Dawn Casey joked, adding that Bargnani will increase his workload this week to include weight-bearing exercise. There's still no timetable for the return of Toronto's leading scorer. ... Toronto Maple Leafs players Don Phaneuf and James Reimer attended the game.
Updated February 12, 2012
