Los Angeles ? Kobe Bryant rose to stardom with medium-range jumpers, dazzling drives to the basket and soaring dunks.

For one game, he found another dimension — the 3-pointer.

Bryant made an NBA-record 12 shots from beyond the arc, including nine straight Tuesday night to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 119-98 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

“That was perhaps the greatest streak shooting I have ever seen in my life,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

Bryant scored 38 points in a span of 17 1/2 minutes during the second and third quarters, making 11-of-13 shots from 3-point range during that time.

He finished with 45 points — one off his season-high — in 37 minutes.

“I just felt an incredible rhythm,” Bryant said with a big smile afterward. “And the calmness, it wasn’t like I was rushing or anything like that. It’s hard to describe, I didn’t really realize what was going on, really.”

And making it even more surprising: Just last Saturday night in Phoenix, he shot 0-for-8 from 3-point range.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (8) makes his NBA-record 12th three-point basket of Tuesday's game over Seattle's Desmond Mason.

Against the Sonics, Bryant appeared to be having a forgettable game midway through the second quarter, having shot 2-of-8 for four points and missing his only 3-point attempt.

Suddenly, and without warning, he couldn’t miss. And when it was over, he had broken the record of 11 3-pointers set by Orlando’s Dennis Scott against Atlanta on April 18, 1996.

The previous single-game 3-point record was eight straight by Steve Smith, Sam Perkins and Jeff Hornacek.

“Pulling up, he felt it, and he felt like the basket was an ocean,” Seattle star Gary Payton said. “He was just in a rhythm. It was good defense on all of them.”

Bryant set the mark with 6:58 to play in the game.

“You just look up and all of a sudden, you realize that you have six 3s at the end of the second quarter, and that didn’t really sink in because you are just shooting them one at a time and the next thing you know, they just start coming and piling up,” Bryant said.

Bryant entered the season having made 293 3-pointers in 933 attempts (31.4 percent) in 414 games. He made 26-of-92 (28.3 percent) in the Lakers’ first 34 games this season.

“I hope I’m next,” said Rick Fox, who hit two of the Lakers’ franchise-record 17 3-pointers. “I bet everyone would take that night. That’s something that you rarely see in the league, nights like this by great players.”