BOUNCING RIGHT BACK BRYANT SCORES 40 IN LAKERS VICTORY NIGHT AFTER 2 OTS LAKERS 93, UTAH 87.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - There was enough pain and swelling and doubt and just plain common sense to leave Kobe Bryant on a training table Wednesday night, and leave it at that. Reasonably, it's where he and his poor, abused right knee belonged.

He had already pounded the joint for 54 minutes the night before, used it to hurdle a 7-foot-6 TV pitchman and had reduced the entire Lakers medical staff to one continuous furrowed brow.

Bryant met their worry with stubborn determination.

``Are you going to give it a go?'' coach Phil Jackson asked.

``Yes, sir.''

The Lakers then met the impossible task - playing the Utah Jazz, on the road, 24 hours after a grueling double-overtime game, with no Shaquille O'Neal and a hobbled Bryant - with a defiance to match their leader.

Bryant pumped in 40 points, almost entirely from a grounded position, and the Lakers took a 93-87 victory at the Delta Center.

His status was in question right up until tipoff. But his intentions never wavered.

``Because,'' Bryant said, ``I wanted to win. And I love challenges. And I just look at that as another challenge for me personally. See if I can play through this, in a hostile environment against a tough defense, and to win the game. That's like just challenges on top of challenges. I love stuff like that.''

The Lakers, 2-1 since O'Neal decided to rest his battered body, maintained their tie with Houston for eighth place in the West. The Rockets beat Phoenix on Wednesday, moving both the Lakers and Houston within 1 1/2 games of the Suns.

After virtual nonstop therapy from trainer Gary Vitti, from late Tuesday night until game time, Bryant said the knee had improved greatly. It was noticeably stiff, but he wasn't limping, as he did while scoring 52 points against the Rockets.

``You know if there's any way for him to be out there, he's going to be out there, and all that does is just give the rest of the guys confidence,'' Brian Shaw said. ``When we got in our huddle before the game, Kobe said it'd be real easy for us to lay it down tonight, but we're not going to lay it down. ... He set the tone when he said that, and he set the tone right after the tip.''

Bryant tested himself immediately, and swished a 3-pointer over Calbert Cheaney. And so he kept firing, making his first six shots on the way to an 18-point first quarter.

``I gave him less than a foot of space, and he still hit shots. So the man is feeling it,'' Cheaney said. ``He's probably playing the best basketball in the league right now.''

Technically, he's playing better than anyone in about 40 years. Bryant joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to score 35 points or more in 11 consecutive games. Chamberlain had streaks of 33, 23 and 20 from 1961-63.

Bryant has scored at least 40 points in seven consecutive games, the best such streak since Michael Jordan put together a nine-game streak in 1986-87.

And did we mention the bad knee?

``He's a remarkable person that way,'' Jackson said. ``He doesn't want to give up anything, he's going to compete and fight his way right out of a paper bag if you close it over him.''

The Lakers arrived without O'Neal and soon lost his replacement. Samaki Walker sprained his right ankle when he landed awkwardly on the opening tip, played eight minutes and then was done for the night. Robert Horry, Slava Medvedenko and Mark Madsen took turns checking Karl Malone (25 points).

Derek Fisher scored 16 points, and the Lakers' bench delivered another sturdy effort. With Bryant on the bench, the second unit opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run to take a 74-64 lead.

The Lakers never surrendered the lead from there, and the only question was whether Bryant would keep his 40-point streak alive. He needed four free-throw attempts in the last 15.6 seconds to get the final two points he needed.

The Lakers' medical staff wants Bryant to rest, but Bryant said his knee felt no worse, and he has no intentions of sitting out a game.

Even the locals were impressed. By the closing minutes, as he closed in on 40 points, they were chanting ``KO-BE'' from the rafters.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

(color) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant (8) drives on Utah's Andrei Kirilenko in the first quarter, in which Bryant scored 18 points.

Douglas C. Pizac/Associated Press

Box:

(1) RACE IS ON

(2) KOBE WATCH

(3) SEVENTH HEAVEN

(4) GAME RECAP