Kobe Bryant has already been on the journey Derrick Rose is starting. Even after the reigning MVP hit the shot that ruined the Los Angeles Lakers opener, Bryant said he still roots for his young friend.Bryant might not have the same immediate warmth toward Luol Deng, who spent the final minute causing most of Kobes problems and securing the Chicago Bulls impressive comeback.Rose scored 22 points and hit a go-ahead floater in the lane with 4.8 seconds to play, and the Bulls rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 3:44 for an 88-87 victory Sunday.In the last 17 seconds, Bryant committed his eighth turnover and had his final shot blockedand Deng was the culprit on both plays. Deng also scored 21 points, including nine in the fourth quarter and five in the final 45 seconds.Kobe knows every superstar must have a strong supporting cast, and he can tell Rose has everything he needs to succeed during the upcoming season of high expectations for the NBAs best regular-season club last season.Theyre one of the best teams in the league, and we did a phenomenal job holding them down, said Bryant, who scored 28 points while playing with a torn wrist ligament. (On the last play) they did a good job with the rotations, and (Deng) came over and made a good block.Carlos Boozer had 15 points for the Bulls, who have designs on a championship run. But Chicago appeared headed for a mildly surprising loss in the first game of a season filled with high expectations until Rose and Deng bailed out the Bulls, who finished with a 17-5 rally.The Bulls had to score the final seven points to earn their first road win over the Lakers in six tries.If it werent for my teammates, making the steal and getting the ball to me at the end, theres no way I could have gotten that shot off to help us win that game, Rose said.That credit should go straight to Deng, who demonstrated how his particular combination of athleticism and intelligence makes the Bulls exponentially better.One possession before Deng stretched to block Bryants final shot, he alertly intercepted Bryants pass to Pau Gasol out of a trap, setting up Roses winner.He threw a lob pass, and I was able to get to it, Deng said. As soon as we got the ball, I knew we were going to score.Bryant couldnt finish strong in his NBA-record 14th Christmas Day appearance. Los Angeles still led 87-81 on Bryants jumper with 54 seconds left, but Deng and Rose took the game away from him.I saw a lot of positive things, Bryant said. Defensively, we were terrific. We did a good job, and were just going to get better. Were going to be very good defensively.
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