BRYANT COMES THROUGH; LAKERS' 9-0 START A FRANCHISE BEST : LAKERS 97, UTAH 92.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

It takes a lot to get Del Harris excited, so when the Lakers' usually composed coach smacked the scorer's table, ranting and raving and screaming like a lunatic after the final buzzer Tuesday night, you knew something important had just happened.

``Kobe Bryant took the final shot!'' Harris shouted happily at Lakers broadcasters Chick Hearn and Stu Lantz, as if trying to relay a message home to Lakers fans and to critics around the world.

But there aren't enough exclamation points in the world to properly punctuate Harris' emotions upon the moment that Bryant jammed home the final basket, sealing the Lakers' dramatic 97-92 come-from-behind victory over the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center.

The win pushed the Lakers' season-opening winning streak to a franchise-record 9-0 while it pushed Harris into Mike Ditka-like hysterics.

Bryant was 18 years old when Harris let him shoot four air balls in the fourth quarter and overtime of the Lakers' Game 5 conference semifinals loss to the Jazz in May. Both the coach and the Kid were criticized and second-guessed roundly after the loss, which ended the Lakers' season.

But Tuesday night it was Bryant, now a heady 19, who calmly hit the two free throws that put the Lakers ahead, 94-92, with 1:01 remaining. And with the final seconds ticking down, and the Lakers leading 95-92, it was Kid Kobe again, blocking Bryon Russell's 3-point attempt, snagging the ball out of the air and driving uncontested to a one-handed jam at the buzzer.

It was all Harris could take. He jumped and screamed and carried on. This was a happy man.

``I tell you, as much as I love this win, I love it for Kobe,'' a calmer, gentler Harris said afterward. ``Kobe scored (four of the last five) points of the game. He and I talked about it today. I said I hope you get that last shot tonight. . . . Tonight, he said to me, `You give it to me again, I'll drain it this time.' ''

Bryant's last four points finished an eight-point fourth quarter and gave him 19 for the night, tying him with Nick Van Exel for the team high. He single-handedly outscored the Jazz bench, 19-16.

Bryant has often dismissed any notion that he still thinks about the tough Game 5 loss. But he wasn't shy about his emotions Tuesday.

``I like the outcome of the game a lot better than last year,'' he said with a smile. ``I think it was my best game, as far as emotionally.''

And that includes quieting the critics who thought it unwise to hand the game over to a teen-ager.

``I was very disappointed with the way the season ended,'' he said. ``After all the talk about, `He's taking the shot at 18 years old' . . . to have a moment like this is so gratifying.''

All the more so considering the location. And all the more so because it kept the Lakers undefeated, as they surpassed the franchise-record start of 8-0 set in 1987-88.

The streak looked to be in jeopardy for most of the game, though.

The Lakers were without power forward Robert Horry (pulled left hamstring), forcing them to use a rotation of a half-dozen players to guard Karl Malone, who finished with a game-high 26 points and nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, Utah's double- and triple-teams on Shaquille O'Neal severely crimped the Lakers' inside power game. O'Neal finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, and the Lakers got most of their points from the outside shooting of Bryant, Van Exel, Eddie Jones (15 points) and Rick Fox (17 points).

Elden Campbell and Corie Blount, among those who filled in for Horry, both got in early foul trouble and finished with four and six points, respectively.

The Lakers trailed by as much as 10 in the third quarter, but kept the score close for most of the game. Still, the Jazz led continuously from the 4:40 mark in the second quarter to the final minute of play, when Bryant hit his free throws. The Lakers outscored the Jazz in the fourth quarter 27-14, the only period they did so.

``The fourth quarter we didn't execute,'' Malone said. ``We didn't get any loose balls or anything like that. You can't win games like that.''