LAKERS OUT OF SORTS IN DEFEAT BRYANT PLAYS, BUT L.A. FALTERS AGAINST HORNETS N.O./OKC 105, LAKERS 89.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

Talking about his sprained right ankle at the morning shootaround, Kobe Bryant offered the assessment that "It looks worse than it feels."

He would later make the decision to play in a game Wednesday night that both looked and felt awful.

With Bryant playing with a limp and Lamar Odom playing with a head cold, the Lakers were out of sorts all game against a New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets team missing three of its four leading scorers.

It added up to a confounding 105-89 loss at Staples Center. The Hornets went with a four-guard lineup most of the game and the Lakers couldn't find any answers, even as they resorted to playing a zone defense down the stretch.

Bryant finished with 24 points on 10 of 17 shooting and played 36 minutes.

The Lakers were outrebounded 49-31 by a team that had one big man on the floor and watched Chris Paul total 26 points and 11 assists.

Odom committed the strangest turnover of the season with 4:38 left in the game. When he was supposed to simply inbound the ball to Smush Parker from the baseline, Odom instead dribbled across the line himself, giving the ball back to the Hornets.

The Hornets weren't able to capitalize immediately but did take a 95-87 lead with 2 1-2 minutes remaining as Rasual Butler beat the shot clock with a jumper for the second time in the fourth quarter.

Former Lakers guard Jannero Pargo, released by the team during the 2003-04 season in a decision that coach Phil Jackson later regretted, buried an open 3-pointer with 2:00 left to put the Hornets up 98-87 and seal the game.

The Lakers fell to 12-6 overall and lost to a Western Conference team for the first time at home. Odom filled the box score with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists but had seven turnovers.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson was forced to make a wholesale change midway through the third quarter. With the Lakers having scored 24 points in 18 minutes, Jackson brought Ronny Turiaf, Jordan Farmar and Maurice Evans off the bench.

The Lakers trailed 64-58 as Odom, Kwame Brown and Smush Parker took a seat.

The only two starters Jackson opted to keep on the floor were Bryant and Luke Walton. Bryant promptly drilled a jumper on the first possession with the new group.

The Hornets had lost five games in a row before Wednesday and were playing without Peja Stojakovic, David West and Bobby Jackson - - their Nos. 2-4 scorers -- all of whom were injured.

Yet the Hornets -- one of the NBA's worst shooting and lowest scoring teams -- took a 54-52 lead into halftime.

The guard trio of Paul, Butler and Pargo -- combined to score 32 points and had 69 for the game.

Bryant, meanwhile, had not made a decision about playing as of the morning shootaround. He spent the better part of two sleepless nights doing rehab exercises on the ankle after suffering the injury Monday.

Jackson told Bryant he didn't want him to do anything to hurt the team or his own game by coming back too early. Bryant answered that he felt fine.

He was limited to being a shooter and rarely tested the ankle by attacking the basket.

The Lakers clearly missed Bryant after he went to the bench with 1:10 left in the first quarter. They were outscored 11-3 and had their eight- point lead erased as Jackson's voice rose in frustration.

Odom walked into the locker room before the game and said he was suffering from a head cold. Odom had a spectacular end to end layup in the first quarter but closed the half with three turnovers.

Brown had an unconventional three-point play as he missed a point-blank basket only to get the ball back as Bryant stole a pass in the backcourt from Cedric Simmons. Bryant whipped a no-look pass to Brown, who dunked and drew a foul.

Brown finished with nine points and nine assists, further cementing his place in the starting lineup. Teenage center Andrew Bynum did not play in the second half and only seven minutes for the game.

"Even though Kwame will miss a shot that you can't believe he misses,"Jackson said before the game, "because he'll be right on top of the basket, he's still very effective in the post."

"His size and his speed is a big factor for us. Since the Phoenix series last year, we've really kind of featured him as one of our scorers and he's just carried right through with that now that he's back in the lineup."

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Hornets' Desmond Mason puts pressure on the Lakers' Lamar Odom.

(2) The Lakers' Lamar Odom, left, and Kwame Brown fight for a loose ball with the Hornets' Chris Paul.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer