LAKERS NOTEBOOK: BRYANT FINDS PEACE IN STEPS.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

MILWAUKEE - As he steeled himself for a cold night in Wisconsin, and for the first wave of unmitigated hostility on the road, Kobe Bryant found comfort in a small, grainy image beamed from Newport Beach.

Natalia Bryant, just 9 months old but like her father an impatient soul, took her first steps Monday night. Dad missed the event in person but watched every wobbly move from his hotel room, via a laptop computer and a Web cam hooked up at home.

``She's standing up and walking and she's laughing it up,'' a beaming Bryant said Tuesday night, 45 minutes before the Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks. ``You can see clear as day, she took two or three steps. ... Strong kid, man. Strong kid.''

Missing the moment in person was ``very tough,'' Bryant said, ``but I was just happy I could see it.''

The timing wasn't entirely bad. The Lakers on Tuesday opened their first prolonged trip of the season, a nine-day, four-city gauntlet for Bryant, who expects to meet hostility at every stop.

``When I'm at home, that's the most peace I get, being at home,'' Bryant said. ``Watching my daughter stand up and take her first steps, that's the most peace. When I step out here on the basketball floor, that's another.''

--More support: Bryant said Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been ``real supportive'' since his arrest this summer. He seemed genuinely moved by Buss' recent pledge that he would not trade ``my son'' and expected to re-sign him next summer.

``I appreciate it, I appreciate it. It's cool,'' Bryant said. ``He didn't have to do it but he did it.''

Asked whether Buss' gesture might mean something to Bryant down the road, when he's a free agent, he said, ``Yeah. But I'll think about that then.''

--Feud for thought: Another city, another round of questions about the recent snit between Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, another flat denial that anything is wrong.

``I think it was basically a war of words and not really a war of feelings,'' O'Neal said. ``Because he's got tough skin, I got tough skin. I don't really believe what I see in the paper all the time. We talked about it. His comments were misconstrued, and mine was misconstrued.''

O'Neal suggested hostile crowds only will pull the team closer.

``The closer we become, the harder it is for anyone or any group of people to break us. So if we hug each other tight, can't nobody get in. We'll be all right.''

--Also: The Lakers' winless streak at SBC Center is in jeopardy. Tim Duncan will miss Thursday's game with a sprained left ankle, joining Tony Parker (ankle) on the bench. The Lakers are 0-6 in the Spurs' new arena. ... Bryant said he has not spoken to Michael Jordan since July. A report this week indicated Bryant was consulting Jordan regularly about his current travails. ... Slava Medvedenko rested his bruised left heel for a fourth consecutive game. ... Jackson has yet to name permanent team captains. He's rotating them from game to game.

Howard Beck, [phone]

howard.beck(at)dailynews.com