Kobe Bryant pours in two of his 33 against the Knicks.

The Lakers had no problems putting away the Knicks early for the second time this season, as they rolled over the New Yorkers 113-96 at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

Kobe Bryant was the star on this night, unleashing his entire repertoire of shots on the star-filled New York crowd, as he played yet another stellar game in one of the NBA’s most-storied buildings.

Bryant finished the game with 33 points and 10 rebounds on 12-17 shooting from the floor, playing just under 29 minutes. He scored 19 of his 33 in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating turnaround jumper that put the Lakers up 30-28 after one.

Pau Gasol had a solid game with 20 points and six rebounds, and he also got a long rest on the bench as the Lakers led by double-figures for most of the night.

Lamar Odom had 14 points off the bench, Andrew Bynum scored 12 points and grabbed nine boards, and Shannon Brown hit six of his 10 shots, including a highlight-reel alley-oop dunk in the second quarter, en route to 12 points.

The Knicks stayed close early, trailed by just two after one quarter, and took the lead early in the second. But the Lakers’ bench came in and took the game away from the home team, and the Lakers built a 62-48 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, Bryant hit a jumper over Danilo Gallinari to put the Lakers up 70-52. The Knicks then made their last real run of the night, going on a 10-1 burst to close to within nine at 71-62. But the Lakers responded and scored six straight, culminating with a three-pointer by Bryant from the right side to go up 77-62. New York never got closer than 11 points the rest of the game, trailing by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter, as the champs cruised to the easy victory.

The Lakers shot 53.6% (45-84) from the field for the game, and 6-15 (40.0%) from the three-point line. But it was their defense that was most-impressive on this night, as they held the high-scoring Knicks to just 41.2% (32-85) from the floor and a miserable 5-20 (25.0%) from beyond the arc. New York did outrebound the Lakers 44-41, but most of that rebound advantage was gained in the fourth quarter with the game well over.

Amar’e Stoudemire led the Knicks with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but shot just 9-20 from the field, turning the ball over six times, and picking up a technical foul. Raymond Felton had a solid all-around game with 20 points and seven assist on 7-12 from the floor. Gallanari had 14 points, but hit just 4-15 from the field, including 0-6 from beyond the arc.

The Knicks have now lost to the Lakers eight straight times, including four in a row at Madison Square Garden. The Lakers moved their road record to 19-8, which surprisingly now matches their home record.

Los Angeles is now 4-0 on their current road trip, which takes them next to Orlando to go up against Dwight Howard and the Magic for the first time this season on Sunday. From there they head to Charlotte on Monday, and finish off the seven-game trip on Wednesday against the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers.

Link: Lakers @ Knicks Box Score

Heroes against Houston, Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom.

The Lakers needed an extra five minutes to get it done, but they were able to escape Tuesday night with a 114-106 win over the fiesty Houston Rockets, to avoid a disastrous three-game losing streak at home.

Kobe Bryant had 32 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds on 13-25 from the floor, hitting a floater in the lane with 38 seconds left in overtime to put the Lakers up 110-106, as they held on for the eight-point win that was every bit a grind.

Lamar Odom had his second career 20/20 game, scoring 20 points and grabbing 20 rebounds in a starting role, as the Lakers played without Andrew Bynum who missed the game with a bruised knee.  Pau Gasol rebounded from two terrible games to score 26 points and 16 rebounds, including the tie-breaking layup in overtime that put the world champs ahead for good.

The injury-depleted Rockets kept the game close all night.  After the Lakers built a 43-31 lead early in the second quarter, Houston quickly fought back and trailed only 54-48 at halftime, and the Lakers never regained that strong momentum again until late in overtime.

In the second half, the Rockets came out fired up, and at one point took a 68-63 lead midway through the third quarter.  The Lakers rallied back and held a six-point lead with just over two minutes left in the game.  But Houston refused to go away, and tied the game with 5.5 seconds left on a wide-open layup by Luis Scola.  Odom then missed an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

In the extra session, the Rockets took a 104-100 lead on a jumper by Scola with 2:48 left, before the Lakers went on a 10-2 run, capped off by Bryant’s basket with 38 ticks left.   That was enough to get the Lakers the much-needed victory after two very difficult losses to Sacramento and Boston at home.

Kevin Martin led the Rockets with 30 points, and oddly enough was the only Rocket to get to the foul line, hitting 10-11.  Luis Scola had 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Aaron Brooks scored 16 off the bench, although he hit just 2-10 from beyond the arc.

The Lakers, who had just 10 assists on Sunday, had 22 against the Rockets.  Bryant, who had zero dimes against Boston, had seven alone in the first quarter, as he looked to get his teammates involved early.  And this time, they made the shots.

For the game the Lakers shot 48.4% (44-91) from the field, and outrebounded the Rockets 54-44.  Gasol and Odom combined for 36 of the 54 boards.  The Lakers also had 16 offensive rebounds.  But they allowed way too many second-chance points, letting Houston grab 16 offensive rebounds themselves. The second-chance baskets and easy layups made the game a lot closer than it should have been.

The Rockets shot just 43.0% (43-100) from the floor, and took a whopping 38 three-pointers, hitting just 10 (26.3%).  In fact Houston’s point guards, Kyle Lowry and Brooks, combined to go a miserable 2-16 from beyond the arc, and just 10-30 from the field overall.

The Lakers’ next game is Thursday night at home against the team with the best record in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs, at an amazing 40-8.  The Spurs did lose to Portland 99-86 on Tuesday night however.  This will be the second meeting of the year between the two teams. The Spurs dominated the Lakers in the second half in San Antonio en route to a 97-82 win on December 28th.

It is unknown whether Bynum will be back for Thursday’s game, but coach Phil Jackson didn’t sound optimistic, especially with the center’s history of knee problems.  Bynum did play in the first game, scoring 10 points off the bench.

Link: Lakers vs. Rockets Box Score

Lamar Odom drives to basket against Suns.

The Lakers returned to Phoenix for the first time since dispatching the Suns in the Western Conference Finals last May, and took a win back to Los Angeles 114-106,  behind a strong game from Lamar Odom.

Odom, starting in place of the injured Andrew Bynum, scored 18 points and dominated the glass with 17 rebounds.  He also had five assists and hit 8-12 from the field.  All the throughout the game, it was obvious how much the lack of size hurt the Suns on the boards, especially with the loss of Amare Stoudemire who is now playing in New York.  The Lakers were able to take advantage of the size mismatches all night, and the sharp-shooting Suns managed to hit only 9-24 from the 3-point line.

Kobe Bryant had a solid game with 25 points on 9-19 from the field. He also added seven rebounds and needed to play only 34 minutes, getting more rest for his surgically-repaired knee which is still not 100% yet.  Pau Gasol had 21 points, eight assists, nine rebounds, and two blocks, Ron Artest added 14 points and three steals, and Matt Barnes chipped in with 11 points off the bench, including 3-4 from behind the arc.

The Suns were led by Grant Hill’s 21 points, and Robin Lopez had a solid 18 points and 14 rebounds.  Steve Nash struggled all night, hitting only 3-9 from the field, for eight points in 29 minutes.  He did have nine assists.   Goran Dragic had 15 points off the bench to go with four assists.

The game was tight early as the Suns gave a valiant effort to keep it close, and trailed only 57-50 at halftime.  The Lakers stretched the the lead from 8-10 points several times in the second half, but never could put away the Suns, who managed to tie the game at 76 late in the third quarter.  The Lakers pulled away early in the fourth quarter and the Suns never were never able to get to any closer than six points down the stretch.

The win moved the Lakers to 2-0 on the new season, the Suns fell to 1-2, losing their home opener after winning handily in Utah last night.  The Lakers next game is Halloween night on Sunday against Golden St. at Staples Center.  Golden St. may be without star second-year guard Stephen Curry, as he left the game on Friday against the Clippers after re-aggravating an ankle injury.

Link: Lakers @ Suns Box Score

Despite the loss, the Lakers have plenty to be proud of. A team that most figured would win 40-45 games and compete for only the 7th or 8th spot in the West, wound up winning 57 games and earned the top seed in the most-competitive Western Conference ever. In addition, Kobe Bryant shook off his offseason turmoil and had his best team-oriented season, which culminated in him winning his first Most Valuable Player award.

This season also saw the emergence of center, Andrew Bynum, who took a giant step forward averaging 13.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 2.06 blocks before suffering a season-ending knee injury on January 13th. The Lakers also acquired Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies in early February, which helped catapult the team back into contention in the West, after the devastating loss of Bynum.

The Lakers bench also proved to be a bright spot for the team all season, led by Sasha Vujacic, the 4th-year guard who had by far his best season averaging 8.8 points per game, and shooting .437 from the 3-point line. Second-year guard Jordan Farmar also showed great potential in his second year, raising his scoring to 9.1 points per game, more than doubling his output from 2006-07.

So while the season did end on a sour note, there is a huge upside for the Lakers and the future looks bright for another title run in 2008-09 and beyond.