They Shouldn’t Expect Bryant to Save the Day

SACRAMENTO —  Kobe Bryant sauntered into Arco Arena late Tuesday afternoon wearing a pinstriped New York Yankee jersey, number 42, and it was perfect.

He was Mariano Rivera, baseball’s best closer.

Kobe Bryant trudged off the court through deafening craziness several hours later, head down, and it was perfectly awful.

He was Mariano Rivera in the seventh game of last year’s World Series.

On a night when the Lakers needed basketball’s best finisher to finish their most important game of the season, Bryant’s shots clanged like gopher balls off the seats.

In the final seconds of what could be their worst loss in three years, the absence of Bryant near Mike Bibby was as silly as a bases-loaded walk.

When the Lakers needed him most, when Bryant is at his best, the game ended as suddenly as a flare to left field.

Sacramento Kings 92, Lakers 91.

Blown save, Kobe Bryant.

“He has come through for us so many times ... “ said Samaki Walker.

And the first night this spring that he didn’t? This loss in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals means the Lakers now trail the Kings three games to two, with two last gasps at maintaining a dynasty this weekend.

This series so filled with drama and passion has now also provided a lesson.

This idea that one man can continually pull one of the mightiest teams in professional sports from the rushing rivers suddenly doesn’t seem so swift.

When everybody knows you are getting the ball, somebody is eventually going to stop you, even if that somebody is yourself.

As Mariano Rivera learned against the Arizona Diamondbacks last fall, there is a point when every human realizes their humanity.

For Game 4 hero Robert Horry, this moment occurred midway through the fourth quarter Tuesday, when he quite literally lost his pants. He tried taping them to his waist, then finally donned a new pair on the sidelines in front of everyone.

For Bryant, this moment occurred soon thereafter, and it wasn’t nearly as funny.

“You know, we have to stop counting on just him,” Walker said. “All of us need to get to work.”

With 3:22 remaining, they behaved as if they had no choice.

Shaquille O’Neal fouled out, and Bibby converted one of two free throws to tie the score at 85-all. And Coach Phil Jackson essentially stood up and patted his right hand.

It was Kobe Time.

It was Penetrate And Make The Game Winning Assist Time, as he did in the first round against Portland.

It was Rebound And Make The Winning Basket Time, as he did in the second round against San Antonio.

“Down the stretch, they give me the ball, and I create something for either myself or my teammates,” Bryant was explaining afterward.

But when he’s still fighting the effects of an apparent food poisoning, when he’s only two days removed from requiring intravenous fluids after a game, that creation is apparently not always so pretty.

His first shot after O’Neal left, he missed it.

His second shot, he made a fallaway jumper with Hedo Turkoglu in his face to give the Lakers a one-point lead with 2:09 remaining.

It was the last shot he would make.

“I think he was tired,” said Jackson.

He was certainly something. Because he wasn’t Kobe.

He missed a jumper that could have given them a three-point lead.

He missed a runner on the next possession that also could have given them a three-point lead.

Then, with 29 seconds left, a really good time for that three-point lead, his driving shot was blocked by Vlade Divac.

“Would those shots have been falling if I was completely healthy?” Bryant said. “I don’t know.”

The fact that the shots were short, confirming this weariness, should provide his answer.

Not that he was given any time to catch his breath, going from clank to clank to the final shot in the final seconds. He took the 18-footer only after he mishandled his dribble, only after defender Bobby Jackson appeared to tug at his shirt.

That shot clanked too.

The buzzer sounded and Bryant walked away after missing seven of his last eight shots and each of his last four.

Bryant’s teammates claim that Bobby Jackson fouled him on the last play.

“How do you think his shirt got pulled out of his pants!” exclaimed Walker.

But Bryant shrugged and said, “You guys saw the replay. There’s no need for me to comment on that. It’s irrelevant at this point.”

What’s not irrelevant is why Bryant, who brilliantly stopped Bibby in the second half in Game 4, was not guarding him in the final moments on Tuesday, when Bibby bounced off a pick and hit the game-winning 22-footer as Derek Fisher was swallowed up by Chris Webber.

Said Jackson, who never had Bryant guarding Bibby during the game: “[Kobe] said, ‘I don’t feel quite comfortable picking him up at this time and not being used to his move,’” Jackson said. “I think it was a decision he wanted to make, and I concurred with him.”

Anybody who knows the competitive Bryant knows that would be a strange decision indeed. Yes, in the end, he had five fouls, but still ...

“You know I wouldn’t use those exact words,” Bryant said when informed of Jackson’s quote. “That’s ridiculous.”

They have three days to figure it out, and not a moment more.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.