nets-vs.-lakers-02-05.JPG
The Lakers' Kobe Bryant drives on the Nets' Joe Johnson Tuesday night in Brooklyn.
(Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK — He entered without a whisper, slipping in so meekly that the footsteps of a 6-11 specimen may have never landed so quietly.
Dwight Howard, the star who the Nets coveted so much last season, made his first appearance at the Barclays Center since his drawn-out and ultimately futile trade courtship with the franchise.
But his appearance Tuesday night had no bearing as he snuck onto the end of the Lakers’ bench a little more than seven minutes into the first quarter — not even in Lakers purple-and-gold but wearing a gray pinstripe jacket as he sat out his third straight game with a shoulder injury.
Then Howard took in a back-and-forth affair that ended with a 92-83 victory for Los Angeles. He saw Brook Lopez, who had been the bait the Nets used to lure a deal for Howard, continue upon an All-Star season by scoring 30 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking three shots.
The effort was for naught as Lopez could not match the ageless force of Kobe Bryant. The two traded buckets late in the fourth quarter, but after Lopez scored on a three-point play with 2:32 remaining to give Brooklyn a one-point lead, the Nets would not score again down the stretch and the Lakers were able to close out the win.
Bryant scored 21 points, while Earl Clark, the Rahway native who has become a starter for the Lakers this season after a vagabond start to his NBA career, scored 14 and had 12 rebounds.
Afterward, visibly angry with himself, Lopez put the loss and the fruitless final minutes on himself.
"To their credit they closed out the game well, but those last two-and-a-half minutes were about as bad as I’ve played all season," Lopez said, focusing on his two missed shots directly following the go-ahead basket.
There were opportunities for the Nets to put a vice grip on the game. Los Angeles started the game without Howard and without Metta World Peace, who was suspended, and then lost Pau Gasol to injury for the final 3:51 — adding to the insult of letting a 13-point lead slip away.
Yet, with the game tied at 80-80 and just under three minutes remaining, Bryant waited until the shot clock ran down then turned the corner on Gerald Wallace from the perimeter, driving into the lane and throwing down a ferocious right-handed dunk over Kris Humphries and Wallace, so strong that the Barclays crowd — previously divided in rooting interest — united in appreciation.
"I was pretty shocked that the lane was so wide open," Bryant said. "I think that everybody has been drinking the Kobe pass Kool-Aid so everybody stayed on the perimeter with the shooters. It just parted like the Red Sea, so I felt a little like Moses."
Thirteen seconds later, Lopez countered with a 12-foot jump shot and drew a foul, hitting the free throw to take back the advantage. It lacked Bryant’s vigor but was just as effective.
That lead would not last as the Lakers scored the final 10 points as Bryant hit a backbreaking layup with 1:42 remaining.
Mike Vorkunov: mvorkunov@starledger.com; twitter.com/Mike_Vorkunov