Lakers 95, Knicks 90

December 23rd, 2007, 11:37 am · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM

NEW YORK – It wasn’t a glamorous finish to a game the Lakers led by 25 points over the hapless Knicks, but Kobe Bryant did bring the victory home Sunday.

Bryant scored 39 points to go with eight assists and 11 rebounds. And Bryant’s rim-hugging jumper with 57.6 seconds left gave the Lakers a 93-90 lead that wound up being enough. Even though Bryant had a turnover and a missed shot thereafter, the Lakers’ defense held, with Jordan Farmar stealing the ball with 2.9 seconds left and scoring.

New York’s Jamal Crawford missed his first seven shots but rallied to score 31 points. Bryant, who missed his chance to play at Madison Square Garden last season in a Lakers loss because of NBA suspension, became the youngest player (29) in NBA history to reach the 20,000-point plateau.

DID YOU SEE THAT?

Among Bryant’s many fancy first-half assists was a pick-and-roll whip pass for Chris Mihm to slam on Eddy Curry.

HALF FULL

At the end of halftime, Farmar cast up a halftime shot and swished it. Trevor Ariza tried to follow suit, but he missed.

RESTING SUNDAY

Luke Walton didn’t suit up so he could give his bothersome right ankle some time to calm down.

NEXT

Phoenix at Lakers, 2 p.m. Tuesday, KABC/7, KLAC/570

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