Los Angeles Lakers 88 Charlotte Bobcats 77 Pau Gasol scored 13 points and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 88-77 on Thursday night without the ailing Kobe Bryant. Bryant, the NBA’s reigning MVP, missed the exhibition game because of residual swelling in his hyper-extended right knee following a collision with teammate Josh Powell on Tuesday night against the Bobcats in San Diego. The crowd of 12147 at Honda Center let out a collective groan when public address announcer Lawrence Tanter gave them the news following the player introductions. “I’ve got a little bit of puffiness in the back of the knee. It’s just from the trauma of landing the way I landed,” Bryant said. “So we’ll just knock that out and make sure the swelling’s out of there, which should be soon. Then I’m OK. After seeing the injury on TV, I’m surprised it’s not worse, to be honest.” Adam Morrison scored 13 points for the Bobcats, who finished the preseason 0-7. The fifth-year team will open the regular season Oct. 30 at Cleveland under Larry Brown, who is coaching his ninth NBA team following the firing of Sam Vincent in April. Morrison played 18 minutes and was 4-for-8 from the field – a year and three days after he tore a ligament in his left knee while attempted to defend the Lakers’ Luke Walton on a drive to the basket in an exhibition game at Staples Center. The injury kept the third overall pick in the June 2006 draft sidelined for the entire season. Morrison played in six preseason …