ATLANTA, Nov. 8 (Ticker) -- The early favorite for Most Improved Player is Smush Parker.

Parker scored 13 of his 21 points in the decisive third quarter as the Los Angeles Lakers began a three-game road trip with a 103-97 victory over the winless Atlanta Hawks.

NBA TV highlights from Lakers-Hawks: Play

Kobe Bryant scored 37 points for the Lakers, who are off to a somewhat surprising 3-1 start. Their biggest surprise unquestionably has been Parker, who has been nothing short of phenomenal thus far.

A journeyman 6-4 guard, Parker averaged 6.2 points as a rookie with Cleveland in the 2002-03 season. He sat out the entire 2003-04 campaign before splitting last season between Detroit and Phoenix, averaging 3.0 points.

With an invitation to Lakers' training camp, Parker won the starting point guard job alongside Bryant. He has eclipsed 20 points three times - establishing or matching a career high each time - while averaging nearly three steals.

"He can play," Bryant said. "He can flat-out play. I think he's been a surprise to begin (with). I don't think he's much of a surprise anymore."

"He has had an important hand in a lot of these games we played," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "It's a joy to see."

In the third quarter, Parker paired with Bryant to score 20 of the Lakers' first 22 points, culminating with Parker's 3-pointer for a 70-63 lead. His three-point play pushed the advantage to 76-65 with 1:08 left in the period.

"I felt great tonight," Parker said. "I feel comfortable in the triangle offense. I have great teammates that make plays and find me when I am open. (The triangle) offense is pretty difficult to defend because it's so precise, yet it's so fluid. You get all kinds of movement."

It often was difficult for the players to determine the score and time as three different courtside computers malfunctioned to knock out the scoreboards and clocks for part of the game, an embarrassing situation for the Hawks in their home opener.

"I've never seen anything like that," Hawks forward Josh Childress said. "We got tight and stiff, but that's no excuse for the way we played."

One player who had seen something like that before was Parker, who spent the 2003-2004 season playing in Europe.

"I've played one season in Greece," Parker said. "I've seen it all. (This game) was definitely like a pickup game. You just go out there and play."

Atlanta closed to 86-78 with eight minutes to play before Bryant took a pass from Brian Cook and went in for a thunderous breakaway dunk, then found Cook with a lob for a dunk. A slam by Laron Profit and two free throws by Lamar Odom made it 94-78 with 5:12 left.

Odom had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Devean George scored 12 points for the Lakers, who won despite being beaten on the boards, 40-32, and missing 13 free throws.

Joe Johnson scored 26 points and Al Harrington added 10 and 10 rebounds for the Hawks (0-4), who had won two of the last three meetings between the clubs.

"In the third quarter it seemed like they wanted it more than we did," Johnson said. "We played well in the first half, but had too many turnovers in the second and couldn't put them away. ... We've got a lot of work to do. We've got to go back in the lab and get to work."

Bryant scored 21 points in the first half, but Los Angeles missed nine foul shots and trailed, 51-48.