Bryant spoils bid by host Thunder, 99-97

 Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, including the go-ahead jumper in overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers got tested in their first road game of the season, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 on Tuesday night.
Bryant connected on a turnaround jumper from the left side with 2:29 to play to give the defending NBA champions a 99-97 lead and then hit two free throws with 18 seconds remaining to push the lead to three.
The Thunder had two chances to tie it late, but Thabo Sefolosha and Russell Westbrook each missed 3-pointers surrounding a pair of missed free throws by Lamar Odom.
Bryant grabbed the ball after Westbrook’s miss and tossed it toward the opposite end of the court to allow the final seconds to run off the clock.
Bryant had been fighting through flulike symptoms earlier in the day but his fever went down before the game started. He ended up making 9 of 22 shots and turning the ball over seven times, but came through when it counted.
Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 28 points but airballed a pair of shots that could have given the Thunder the lead in the closing minute of regulation and overtime.
He dribbled the ball to run down the final few seconds of the fourth quarter before coming up empty on a deep 3-pointer from the right wing with 2.7 seconds left, but Sefolosha stole the Lakers’ ensuing inbounds pass to send the game to overtime.
Durant then airballed a 17-foot jumper from the right side in the final 30 seconds of overtime that could’ve put Oklahoma City ahead again. Bryant was fouled intentionally and hit two free throws to provide the final margin.
Andrew Bynum added 22 points, Ron Artest scored 20 and Odom had 13 points and eight rebounds while starting again in place of the injured Pau Gasol.
Jeff Green had 18 points for Oklahoma City while Westbrook and Sefolosha each scored 12.
The Lakers have won their last 10 games against the Thunder franchise, dating back to its days in Seattle.
Los Angeles opened the game on a 9-0 run, punctuated by Bynum’s two-handed jam off an alley-oop lob from Bryant. The lead reached 28-15 after Bryant finished a spurt of six straight points with a 3-pointer from the right wing over Durant.
But Durant scored 10 straight points, including a two-handed dunk of his own, in a stretch spanning the first quarter break to get the Thunder back in the game.
Notes: Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Gasol had a “pretty good workout” before the game but the team still had no additional information to suggest he has a tear in his right hamstring. The team has described the injury as a strain. ... Jackson was asked before the game if he had a fondness for Oklahoma’s wide open spaces since he formerly lived in North Dakota, near the Montana border. “Not really fond. There’s some sunsets and sunrises that are pretty nice. The wind is aggravating if you live out here, there’s no doubt about it.” However, he said he remembered listening to Oklahoma City-based KOMA-AM. “There were two radio channels. That was all you could get up there in North Dakota.”