After a big win at the Celts, Kobe Bryant scored 33 points in another effortless night at Madison Square Garden, and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 113-96 victory over the struggling New York Knicks on Friday night.
Bryant scored 19 points in the first quarter, and perhaps only the lopsided score kept him from recording a sixth 40-point game at the arena. He raised his average at MSG to 30.5 points, edging past Carmelo Anthony and into the lead for tops among active players. Bryant also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Pau Gasol added 20 points for the Lakers, who beat the Knicks for the eighth straight time overall and fifth in a row at the Garden, where Bryant owns the scoring record of 61 points that might've been in jeopardy if he played more than 29 minutes.
He sat on the bench in the fourth quarter, rising only to pump his fist a few times after baskets by teammates who were too good for the Knicks even without him.
Bryant shot 12 of 17 from the field and hit four 3-pointers as the Lakers made 54 percent of their shots, two nights after the Clippers had no trouble with New York's defense.
Amare Stoudemire had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who lost for the fourth time in five games and fell to 26-26, the first time they've been at .500 since they were 9-9 after beating Detroit on Nov. 28.
Worse for New York, the All-Star forward picked up his 14th technical foul of the season, moving him two away from an automatic one-game suspension that seems a certainty with the pace he's accumulated them.
The Lakers followed their 92-86 victory over archival Boston on Thursday by improving to 4-0 on a seven-game road trip while Staples Center prepares to host the Grammys. A stop in New York was a nice benefit for the Lakers, since regulars Ron Artest and Lamar Odom are from the city, coach Phil Jackson played and might've been coaching for the final time here, and Bryant loves playing inMSG.
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