wolves/nba

EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. - The debate raging last week around Lakers scoring star Kobe Bryant was whether or not he is a dirty player.

That changed Friday, when Bryant reminded the NBA that the operative adjective in his case is not dirty but nasty. Nasty, as in the 65 points he dropped on the Portland Trail Blazers in a 116-111 overtime victory Friday night.

That's the Bryant the Timberwolves will be coping with this evening at Staples Center, when they face Bryant and his mates for the fourth and final time this season. Like most opponents, they realize their best defensive options when the reigning All-Star MVP is hot like that are a) prayer, b) a Bryant flat tire on the 405 Freeway, or c) ...

"Hope he misses?" Wolves coach Randy Wittman said.

The Wolves spent about 90 minutes at the L.A. practice facility Saturday afternoon, which only meant that they had keys to the gym, not keys to stopping the NBA's most potent offensive player. Bryant made 23 of his 39 shots, including eight of 12 from three-point range. He scored 24 points in the fourth quarter and nine in overtime against Portland in what ranks as his second-biggest scoring night (he had 81 against Toronto in January 2006).

Bryant has scored at least 50 points on 15 occasions, and his output Friday ranks fourth on the Lakers' all-time list. So far this season against the Wolves, Bryant has climbed the ladder from 20 points on Nov. 7 to 24 on Dec. 20 to 40 just 11 days ago at Target Center.

The encouraging thing about the trend is that the Wolves won that last meeting 117-107 in two overtimes.

"Obvously it's difficult. Everybody knows that," guard Marko Jaric said. "We know that, against a tremendous scorer like him, it's not like one guy is going to take on the whole team. So we need to be focused on helping each other and whoever is guarding him -- if I start or whoever is going to take him later -- we need to cover each other and help each other."

With Trenton Hassell less than 100 percent recovered from a sprained left ankle, Jaric figures to spend a lot of time on Bryant. He likely will get help from Ricky Davis, Kevin Garnett, Justin Reed and others.

"You have to double him once in a while, especially when he gets in a rhythm," Wittman said. "He's a big rhythm guy. ... You look at some of those [incredible] shots he hits, what preceded those shots, he's on a hot streak somewhere from stringing together five or six shots in a row. Then he thinks he can go anywhere on the floor and shoot it."

Often, Bryant will launch absurd shots -- at least for other guys -- before he gets deep enough to draw the double-teams. That's why Jaric tries to deny him the ball as much as possible.

"I'm just trying to get him out of his rhythm," Jaric said. "I also try to get him to take the kind of shots that he ... if he wants to make two steps, make him take three."

And, once in a while, guard Bryant's hand with Jaric's face? He got whacked by Bryant in the first meeting this month, a controversial move that earned Bryant a one-game NBA suspension. Said Jaric, vowing not to give the Lakers star any extra room tonight: "They got a foul from that, right?"

Guarding Bryant -- as unwelcome a task as there is -- is something Jaric has done, or tried to do, since his days with the Clippers. But he sees a different, more dangerous Kobe these days.

"I think he's much better now, like, letting a couple other guys score, so the defense has to focus on them," Jaric said. "So he has much more space to score and do whatever he wants."

So no more ball hog? "He came out of a tough situation," the Wolves guard said. "They traded Shaq, he probably got a lot of pressure and responsibility to take on. This is his [third] year, I think he's much calmer now."

Stealthy might be more like it. And nasty.

Steve Aschburner • saschburner@startribune.com