For a .500 team, the Lakers are looking pretty good lately. Bryant is the biggest reason why.

Bryant scored 11 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and hit the go-ahead layup with 9 seconds left, leading the Lakers back to .500 for the first time in more than two months with a 99-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.

Steve Blake stole Smith’s final pass in the waning seconds for the Lakers (30-30), who blew a 16-point lead in the second half before Bryant scored their last six points.

After Bryant scored the Lakers’ final basket while driving directly at Smith, Blake swiped Smith’s desperation pass from underneath Los Angeles’ basket. Bryant threw the ball high in the air to run out the clock on Los Angeles’ seventh straight home victory over the Hawks since 2006.

“I just had to attack,” Bryant said. “I wanted to attack and just go right at them. Take the game to them. Be aggressive. Be physical. And it worked out.”

Steve Nash had 15 points and 10 assists, while Dwight Howard added 11 points and 15 rebounds in the Lakers’ 13th win in 18 games. Los Angeles hung on for a quality win over the Hawks, a near-certain playoff team with ample motivation to knock off the high-profile Lakers.

Kobe wouldn’t allow it, making one big play after another down the stretch. Afterward, he repeatedly compared himself to a fine wine — only getting better with age.

“It was more of a message to my team here, to kind of have that will, that hunger, to push through it by any means necessary,” he said. “It’s just a challenge. I wouldn’t even really categorize it as fun. The fun comes in the challenge, and we’re up for it.”

The Lakers hadn’t been at .500 since Dec. 28, when they followed a win over Portland with six consecutive losses. They’ve spent the past six weeks digging themselves out of the latest hole in their rut-filled season, culminating in a lengthy stretch of recent solid play despite the absence of injured 7-footer Pau Gasol.

If the Lakers manage to upset Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, they would have their first winning record since Nov. 20, when they beat Brooklyn in coach Mike D’Antoni’s debut to go 6-5.

Al Horford scored 24 points and Smith had 19 for the Hawks, who had won four straight before consecutive road losses to the Suns and Lakers. Atlanta hasn’t beaten the Lakers anywhere since March 31, 2010.

Smith relished his matchup with Bryant, even if he got the short end of it.

“He’s been doing it for a long time, so you have to respect what he brings to the table,” Smith said. “He’s an assassin. He wants that moment. But from a defensive standpoint, I love taking a challenge like that and try to step up and try to make it tough for him. It was kind of like a tug-of-war match. We were going back and forth, and they made one more play than we did to win the game. I live for moments like this.”

Bryant put the Lakers up 96-95 with 2:18 to play on that ferocious dunk. After turnovers by both teams, Jeff Teague reclaimed the lead for Atlanta with 45 seconds left on a floating layup in traffic.

After Bryant hit two free throws, Horford put the Hawks back ahead with a dunk on a backdoor pass from Smith with 26.7 seconds left. But Bryant drove around Horford and right into Smith at the rim, willing the ball over his defense.

“There’s a reason why he’s the best player in the game,” Horford said of Bryant. “He did what he usually does, and we didn’t do a good enough job on him. It’s disappointing. We thought we worked hard and put ourselves in a position to win. We just had too many mistakes down the stretch.”

Devin Harris scored 12 of his 16 points in a three-minute spree late in the third quarter while Atlanta erased Los Angeles’ big lead.

Game notes

The Hawks finish their trip Monday night in Denver. … Atlanta coach Larry Drew was able to attend his son’s final UCLA home game on Saturday thanks to the fortunate coincidence in the Hawks’ schedule. Drew considers Los Angeles home after playing for the Clippers and Lakers, followed by a lengthy stint as a Lakers assistant coach in the 1990s prior to Phil Jackson’s arrival. … Novak Djokovic visited the Lakers’ locker room with fellow tennis player Justin Gimelstob before the game. One day after winning the Dubai Championships halfway around the globe, Djokovic spoke at length with Howard, who claims he won a school tennis tournament as a kid.

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Brooklyn At San Antonio
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, December 31, 2012
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Prediction: Spurs 105, Nets 96.

Oddsmakers currently have the Spurs listed as 9½-point favorites versus the Nets, while the game’s total is sitting at 197.

Brooklyn general manager Billy King said in an ESPN radio interview on Sunday that he had not contacted any high-profile coaching candidates. “We’ve put our support behind (Carlesimo), and then we’ll look at things and evaluate it later,” King said. Carlesimo guided the Nets to a 97-81 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday and a 103-100 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday by leaning on Lopez. The center has posted three straight double-doubles and went for a season-high 35 points in the win over Cleveland. Williams has recorded a total of nine assists and only one turnover in the two games under Carlesimo.

Last time out for Brooklyn, they were a 103-100 winner as they battled the Cavaliers at home. The Nets failed to cover in the match as an 8.5-point favorite, while 203 combined points moved the game OVER for totals bettors.

Team record: 16-14 SU, 13-16-1 ATS
Current streak: won 2 straight games.

The total has gone UNDER in 15 of last 17 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of last 5 games when playing San Antonio
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of last 5 games when playing on the road against San Antonio
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of last 8 games

When playing on Monday are 3-7
Before playing Oklahoma City are 3-7
After playing Cleveland are 3-7
After a win are 6-4

San Antonio crushed the Dallas Mavericks 111-86 on Sunday night and has won its last five by an average of 18.8 points. The Spurs got 84 points from Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in a win over the Houston Rockets on Friday, and the three went for 59 in the victory on Sunday. With Monday being the second night of a back-to-back set, and with another back-to-back scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, coach Gregg Popovich could get creative with his substitution patterns in regard to those three players in particular. Parker was the only one to go over 30 minutes on Sunday and led the team with 21 points and nine assists.

In their last action, San Antonio was a 111-86 winner on the road against the Mavericks. They covered the 6-point spread as favorites, while the combined score (197) was profitable news for UNDER bettors.

Team record: 24-8 SU, 19-12-1 ATS
Current streak: won 5 straight games.

is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Brooklyn
is 18-1 SU in its last 19 games when playing Brooklyn

When playing on Monday are 6-4
Before playing Milwaukee are 8-2
After playing Dallas are 9-1
After a win are 8-2

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