LAKERS NOTEBOOK: TAPE GIVES BROWN SOME SUPPORT.

Byline: ROSS SILER

Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO -- Thanks to an inventive tape job by trainer Gary Vitti, Lakers center Kwame Brown looked like a different player in the first quarter of Friday's game, even finding the strength in his injured ankle to sky for a follow-up dunk.

Brown eventually wore down after a night of banging with the immovable object that is Houston's Yao Ming, but not before he managed to block one of Yao's shots and strip him of the ball as the Lakers' made their fourth-quarter comeback.

But then Brown was fouled intentionally by the Rockets with 15.5 seconds left in regulation and looked very much like his old self. Brown bricked both free throws only to be bailed out by Kobe Bryant's miracle 3-pointer.

Brown was able to joke Saturday at practice that "me and Kobe, we planned that," but the question is if other teams won't follow the Rockets' example and force the 43.1 percent foul shooter to the line late in games.

Although Brown wasn't expecting the immediate foul, the Rockets did the same thing twice in the last four minutes of regulation in a double- overtime loss to the Lakers on Dec. 15.

"I've just got to be ready to step up there and hit the shots," Brown said, "because I was shooting the ball pretty well from the free-throw line (5 of 6) before that."

Asked about having confidence in Brown late in games, Lakers coach Phil Jackson asked reporters: "What's his shooting percentage?"

He was told it was in the 40s, and even worse in the fourth quarter.

"He's probably going to shoot about 40-some percent," Jackson said. "That's why there's percentages. The percentages are pretty good that he's going to miss 1 out of 2."

Brown finished with 15points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks in one of his most productive games this season. Vitti found a way to tape Brown's left ankle so that he wouldn't suffer pain because of a pre-existing bone spur.

"I felt great. I felt normal for once," Brown said. "There was no pain when I turned for my jump hook. As the game went on, it wore down. But if I can start games like that, I'll be fine because everybody's not as big and heavy as Yao Ming is."

Farmed out: The Lakers will make rookie guard Jordan Farmar the first same-day call-up in NBA Development League history today. Farmar will play for the D-Fenders in this afternoon's game against Anaheim at Staples Center.

Then he will be recalled and be in uniform for the Lakers' game against Sacramento. The D-Fenders are in the stretch run of their season with only six games remaining.

Farmar hasn't gotten off the bench in three of the Lakers' past six games. Under NBA rules, the Lakers can assign their first- or second-year players to the D-Fenders up to three times in any season.

Understanding Artest: Lamar Odom has known Sacramento's Ron Artest since they were both teenage basketball stars in New York. Odom also once questioned whether he would play again after the death of his infant son Jayden last summer.

So Odom said he could understand why Artest would send text messages to his Kings teammates two weeks ago telling them he was planning to retire after the season. Artest was arrested March 5 on domestic violence charges.

"Sometimes as athletes, our lives are of course under a microscope, so when things are not going the way you want them to go off the court, it can feel overwhelming," Odom said. "I can see why someone could feel like that.

"Ron is still young and he still has a lot to give as far as basketball and I hope that's not the case. ... He's human at the end of the day, no matter what people may think. Some of us, you see us as these figures that can't be beaten down, but that's not the case."

Returning: Jackson said he expects Maurice Evans (sore knee) and Brian Cook (sprained ankle) to return tonight. The Lakers got only six points from their bench Friday.

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Photo:

The Lakers' Kwame Brown pokes the ball away from Houston's Tracy McGrady on Friday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

Box:

LAKERS vs. SACRAMENTO

-- Ross Siler