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Bryant a 'dead' issue for Bulls

LOS ANGELES -- After so much rumor and speculation, Kobe Bryant and Bulls uniforms finally appeared together on the same court Sunday night at the Staples Center.

One of the prominent questions, however, was whether the thought of a Bryant trade to the Bulls was news any longer.

"It's over," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said prior to the game. "It's dead, a dead story."

"I don't really think about it," Bryant said after the Lakers pulled away in the second half for an easy 106-78 victory. "It's just another game."

Bryant's silence on the subject of playing for the Bulls probably spoke volumes, because unless he expresses enough unhappiness with his current situation, there almost is no chance the Lakers will trade him.

By the time Sunday's mismatch was over, Bryant had to be wondering if he could get his deposit back on Michael Jordan's Highland Park mansion. One Chicago paper carried reports that Bryant expressed interest in the expansive home, though Bryant called the story crazy.

"I actually thought about purchasing it and decided not to," Bryant joked. "I like Oprah's penthouse instead."

Bulls forward Luol Deng sat this game out because of a sore back. At times it looked as though the Bulls were missing five guys instead of just one.

The visitors turned in another miserable shooting performance (34.8 percent) and placed just two players in double figures -- Ben Gordon with 20 points and Andres Nocioni with 14.

The Lakers managed to find five guys on the bench who hit double digits. Bryant led the Lakers with 18 points but hit just 6 of 16 shots against a variety of Bulls defenders.

"(The Bulls) got off to a pretty slow start," Bryant said. "That's something they've done in the past, so I don't think it's something that anybody in Chicago needs to worry about."

When this game tipped off, it appeared the Bulls (2-7) were playing among the sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park rather than downtown L.A. With Deng unavailable, Skiles decided to confront the Lakers with a minuscule lineup.

Six-foot-5 Adrian Griffin guarded Bryant at the start. The rest of the Bulls' front line included 6-7 Andres Nocioni and 6-8 Ben Wallace, while the Lakers used 6-9 Brian Cook, 6-10 Lamar Odom and 6-11 Kwame Brown.

Ben Gordon had an inch or two on Lakers counterpart Derek Fisher. But at the other four matchups the Bulls were a combined 13 inches shorter than the Lakers.

"The goal is to pick up the tempo on them a little bit," Skiles said. "We certainly got plenty of good looks out of it. We just couldn't make them."

The Bulls were outscored 61-32 in the second half. The Lakers (6-3) pulled away with an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter before the Bulls fought back to within 63-60.

Then the Lakers scored the final 12 points of the third and the first 6 of the fourth. The 18-0 run was complete when Chris Mihm's dunk put the Lakers ahead 81-60 with 9:45 remaining.

"I feel like we ran out of gas," Gordon said. "Came out and played well in the first half, I thought. In the second half, we just didn't have the same energy and intensity. I think that was pretty much the key to the game."

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