LAKERS -at- KNICKS - 2/2 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Kobe's 61 at Madison Square Garden... In more than 40 years since Madison Square Garden has hosted a variety of legendary athletes, no NBA player has ever scored more. Kobe Bryant dropped 61 points on the Knicks. There was hell to pay for the injury to Andrew Bynum in the previous game. Kobe collected.

"On top of the fact that it's an electrifying place, I was a little P.O.'d because Big Drew went down," Kobe said in the aftermath.

Nevermind the dislocated finger that is still taped up. Nevermind the bandaged palm. Kobe Bryant came out on a mission and nothing would stand in his way.

He had quarters of 18, 16, 12 and 15. He drained threes, jammed, hit hanging shots in the lane, pull-up jumpers, baseline fades. The full weaponry of his game was on display. He had the crowd buzzing all night and by the time he sat, Madison Square Garden gave him a standing O.

"He was on fire from the start and finished the game almost the same way," Phil Jackson said. "That was a remarkable performance."

Kobe also picked up the Western Conference Player of the Month honors. If there were questions about who was MVP this season, Kobe may have just taken the lead in that debate.

The one-two punch of Kobe and Pau combined for 92-points. The injury to Bynum will naturally focus the ball more into Pau's hands in the post. When Kobe wasn't killing the Knicks in the 126-117 win, Pau was for 31 points, 14 boards and 5 assists.

The injury to Bynum, as I mentioned after the previous game, was very similar to Kwame's knee sprain in how it went down last season. They both tore the MCL. Kwame was back in 6 weeks. Hope Bynum can pull off a similar recovery.

"We're all optimistic that he's going to be back in the middle blocking shots and getting double-doubles like he was before," the Mamba said. The Lakers will need to play some scrappy ball to keep pace atop the standings until then.


Kobe -- -- Under the dark backdrop of Madison Square Garden, Kobe painted another of his virtuoso masterpieces. Greatness would not be denied. He quickly went on the attack tonight and never let up. Late in the game, the Knicks were induced into a series of fouls. One of the more remarkable stats of the game besides the 61 points in 37 minutes is Kobe's 20-20 from the freethrow line. They couldn't defend him and Kobe made them pay with perfection at the line. The signature shot in the game will be the up-fake at the high elbow area to lose his, he instantly pivoted away from the defender to step in and sink a difficult 14-footer on his way down. The Knick crowd had been buzzing all night, but that stole the show. Told afterward that he broke the MSG record, Kobe looked shocked. "Wow, I don't know what to say. That's awesome," he said with a grin. "It's a blessing." The Lakers needed to come away with the W tonight. The road will only get harder and Kobe understood that. "I felt like this was a hump game because we had to have it," he said. The Stats: He scored 61 points on 19-31 shooting (3-6 from three, 20-20 from the line) to go with 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 37 minutes. The Action: He drained a pull-up 20-footer straight away. He sank a wing three on his next attempt. He swished another pull-up jumper on this third straight shot. He missed a long jumper the next time down. He set up Pau for the layup off the two-man game. He spun away from the double team and drew FTs on the turnaround, he made both. He missed a three next time down. Quick cut off the ball, he took the pass and scored the layup while going to the floor. He swished an open 16-footer from the left side, too easy for him. He missed a fallaway on the baseline. He was held after a quick cut off the ball, he made both FTs with "M-V-P" chants going. He gave up a three on one end, but got it back on the other. His layup was blocked by Chandler at the end of the quarter. He had 18 points in the first quarter. He returned at the 7:25 mark of the second. He immediately swished a sideline three. He crossed over his man and swished a long wing jumper next time down. He hit a step-back jumper over Lee on the next trip. He filled the lane on an Ariza steal on the next score and threw down the huge dunk with a roar from the crowd. He lost the handle trying to go up, turnover. He jump-passed to Lamar for the dunk after drawing his man. Quick first step, he attacked the lane, hung and hit the jumper on his way down. He missed a wing three with a man on. Quick leak out and LO hit him with a bullet outlet for the dunk. He missed a jumper. He spotted a seam, attacked it with speed and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT with more "M-V-P" chants. He had 34 points at the half on 13-20 shooting. Second Half: He swatted a man from behind to save a hoop. He missed a wing three. He swished a rainbow fallaway from 14 feet out. He swished a fading baseline jumper. He was undercut by Jeffries on a quick cut off the pinch post, he made both FTs. He split a double team, hung and hit the tricky fade (Lamar in the corner with the body language as the shot floated over the front rim). Tough jumper from the wing with a man on him, he missed. He missed another leaning jumper, forcing that one. He goaltended a brick off the glass. He was fouled off the ball out of a timeout, he made both FTs. He took the pass Pau in the paint, hung while faking right and left, then went glass for the score. He attacked and kicked to Farmar for the open three. He had 12 points in the third. Back off the bench after another decent rest, he pulled up and hit the FT jumper. He missed a jumper over two defenders. He missed another from the other side (Powell got both of those misses). Third time on this offensive set is the charm as he curled down the lane and drew FTs when he was slapped hard, he made both for his 50th points. He attacked Duhon in early offense, more FTs on the next trip, he made then both. More FTs on the next trip after getting Chandler to bite on a pumpfake, he made both. Swing through at the three line to draw three FTs, he made all three to pass Jordan's MSG record. Incredible next make, up-faking at the elbow to put his man in the popcorn machine, quickly spinning away from him to lose him as the crowd buzzed, then he hit the short jumper...chills. He busted out when we stole the ball and he got wrapped up under the hoop, he made both FTs to pass Bernard King's MSG record. With 1:48 Kobe Bryant sat to a standing O from Madison Square Garden and loud chants of "M-V-P". Well said.

Gasol -- -- Only 30 points less than Kobe, but Pau Gasol put in a dominating performance. Back in as our starting C, he worked the post with efficiency. He also ran the floor well. He had a number of throwdowns throughout the night. He gave the second unit a hub in the offense that they could utilize to create with consistency. That will be vital for the team as they try to play at a high level with Andrew out. His minutes are going to rise, as will Kobe's, but Pau is definitely going to be doing some heavy lifting. Hopefully, he can weather the minutes well and possibly find a second wind with more games like tonight's. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 12-17 shooting (7-8 from the line to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 5 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He missed a jumphook short. He scored a layup off the two-man game. He missed another jumphook. He sealed, took the corner entry and scored the layup. He went to his left in the post, going glass over Lee. Nice catch off a long outlet from Lamar and he drew FTs, he made one. More good position sealing Lee, he took the corner entry, spun and reversed in an And-1, he made the FT. He dunked off the break, trailing Farmar. He had 12 points in the first quarter. He lost the handle on a jumphook. He dunked trailing the break behind Sasha. He dunked when Fish found him under the hoop in transition. He had 16 points on 7-10 shooting and 7 boards at the half. Second Half: He bricked a soft fading layup when he should have tried to dunk it. He jammed off the bounce pass from Luke on the break. He drew FTs on the two-man game with Kobe, he made both. He posted up, attacked strong to the middle and hit the And-1 jumphook, he made the FT. He missed an elbow jumper. He posted up and hit a cutting Kobe for a score. He followed Farmar on the breakaway and slammed back in his miss. He drew a foul with the shotclock low, getting clipped in the head on a block attempt from behind, he made both. He blocked Lee under the hoop. He posted up, reposted and hit the turnaround on the baseline. Quick spin on a smaller man and he threw down on the next offensive set. He hit Ariza off the pinch post for a layup. He swatted Lee with that long reach on a drive. He kicked out to Ariza for three.

Lamar -- -- According to the Daily News, Lamar reached over to Kobe at one point and wiped the sweat off his head, saying, "Let me have some of that." I knew he was selling Kobe sweat on eBay! Kind of surprised that Lamar actually got off 9 shots in this game. He wasn't effective in those, but they didn't need it. He hit the boards hard to pull down 14. Having him back in at the starting PF, we should see more of that glass work. I'm not sure if it was the pace of the game or just the energy Lamar played with, but he was pushing the tempo quite a bit. He still managed to look fairly active despite how much we went to Pau and Kobe. Defensively, he got in on a few swats on Harrington. We had some difficulty defending Harrington between the end of the second and start of the third, but we eventually reeled that in. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-9 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 14 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 38 minutes. The Action: He attacked from the top of the key on our first possession and earned FTs, he made one. He missed a 20-footer. He rejected Lee on help D. He dunked off the Kobe jump pass. He grabbed a board and hit Kobe on the fly for the uncontested dunk. He drew FTs trying to score over Nate on the break, he made one. Good challenge on a two-on-one break to get a miss. Second Half: He dunked off a dive cut when Pau got doubled. He telegraphed a pass trying to thread a needle to Kobe on the break (hard to wind up like that without it getting picked). He missed an early offense three badly. He swatted Harrington's drive. He attacked strong to his left and missed off the glass. He missed a long three.

Luke -- -- Decent game from Luke. He did have a couple of breakdowns defensively, but he was effective on the other end. He had a few mismatches where he went right to the post to take advantage of them, which he did. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-2 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls. The Action: He posted up a smaller man in transition and drew FTs, he made one. He posted up again, drew a double and FTs on the pass off, he made one. Great close out to block a jumper on help D, then he hit the pull-up 12-footer in transition on the other end. Second Half: He ballwatched and gave up an alley-oop dunk. He posted up Duhon and scored on his fade. He pushed out the break and hit Pau with the bounce pass for a dunk. He set up Kobe for FTs off the pinch post bounce pass.

Fisher -- -- Nate Robinson had 33 points last time we played. He only had 13 points on 4-14 shooting tonight. Quiet game from DFish (in fact, probably one of his quietest all season), but he kept the Knick PGs from roasting us and that was a pleasant change. He also deflected a number of passes with some very good anticipation and position D. Nicely done. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: He missed an early offense jumper from the corner. He spotted Pau under the hoop on the break for a dunk. Second Half: He deflected a ball and it led to a breakaway dunk for Pau. He drained an open sideline three. He lost his man in transition, uncontested layup for Nate. Another pass deflection with good weakside help.

Ariza -- -- Ariza was your only other Laker to get into double digits. He had a couple spectacular throwdowns on his former team. One of his putback jams was a thing of beauty with how far out he had to reach back. He was a little sloppy with some passes and ended up leading the team in turnovers...considering how he is not ball dominant, that is especially irksome. Still, he was clearly a spark off the bench for the team. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 8 rebounds (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He missed a putback trying to dunk instead of tap it. He airballed a runner taking a lot of contact. He stuffed a dunk over Harrington on the break. He iso'd, lost his man with a spin and dunked. He swiped a pass, pushed the break and fed Kobe for the dunk. Second Half: He scooped up a loose ball, attacked and twisted around a man for a layup. Goodness, he got up high on a Sasha miss to cram it back down with one had, wow. Poor angle post entry pass (same as previous game where he threw it out of bounds when a defender was partially fronting the post). He powered in a layup after cutting off Pau and taking the pass. He threw two passes away. He drained a three on the kickout from Pau. He couldn't score a tough lob from LO on the break.

Farmar -- -- Again, his defense looked very reasonable. He had some good anticipation and reads at times. Offensively, he drained a couple threes getting squared up well. Still had a some wildness out there and had trouble finishing around the rim despite some good attacks. I'd like to see him get into that midrange area more. Don't just settle for threes or attempts at the rim. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup off a drive. His pass was deflected for a rush the other way. He hit Pau trailing the play for a dunk. He swiped a dribble from Nate. He swished a wing three off the pinch post. Out of a timeout, he and Nate showed off their little-man hops on an oop to Farmar, Jordan drew the foul. Excellent anticipation on help D to swipe a pass, he then pushed out the break to draw FTs for Lamar. He airballed a rushed turnaround at the halftime buzzer. Second Half: He pushed out the break with speed, elevated and missed, but Pau cleaned it up. He drained a sideline three on the next trip down when Kobe kicked it to him. He tried to attack Nate off the dribble, turnover as he dribbled it off his foot while falling down.

Vujacic -- -- His shot seemed rushed all night. I think we need to remember to try to run the double screen sequence for him to get a good look at a midrange shot. Something a little closer in to help him get on track sooner. Defensively, he was fairly weak...a number of fouls and giving up some easy scores. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 4 fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: He bricked a long three with a new shotclock, then gave up a layup to Chandler on the other end. He pulled up on the break and hit Pau for the dunk. Soft foul on a drive, giving up an easy And-1 layup. Second Half: He hoisted a quick heave three and missed. He missed a pull-up jumper from the wing (again, long and flat).

Radmanovic -- -- Lousy game from Vlad. Phil ran him as a PF behind Lamar, going up against Harrington. We paid the price. I can't stand Vlad's minutes at PF. Has the team ever looked good with him there? With Bynum out, you knew we'd see some of this. Hopefully, it was only situational because of the shorter Knick team, but it was some miserable minutes. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting, had 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 6 minutes. The Action: He gave up a layup to Harrington in the post. He bricked a corner three, rushing it after getting an airball. He dribbled into a crowd and lost it, then he got lit for a three on the other end (Phil then called a timeout). Second Half: Did not play.

Powell -- -- He came in as the back-up C behind Pau, then later as the PF. He played some physical minutes and lost a battle with the floor at one point. In garbage time, he chucked a few shots with no success. Decent job defensively. He got in some good stops on Lee. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting, had 3 boards (2 offensive), 1 block and 2 fouls in 12 minutes. The Action: He forced Lee into a travel with some strong D. Second Half: He swatted Lee's drive attempt on help D. He out-muscled his man for an offensive board on a Kobe miss and foul. Another Kobe miss, another offensive board and foul on the same sequence, he was bleeding after that one. He went up to challenge a shot and had his feet taken out from under him, landing flat on his upper back (he stayed on the floor for a bit, but he'll be sore tomorrow). He missed a baseline jumper. He missed another 15-footer. He missed a turnaround.

Sun Yue -- -- Like Devin Green who came in for Kobe's 81-point game, Sun gets the honor of coming in for Kobe in his 61-pointer at MSG. The Stats: He played 2 minutes and had 1 foul. The Action: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- Props to Phil for leaving Kobe in long enough to get the MSG record. He could have sat him earlier if he wanted. He was still able to keep Kobe's minutes down... I think there's a chance Bynum will be back in 6 weeks (20 games). The question will be, what kind of condition will he be in when he returns? How soon can he pick it back up to where he left off? Phil will need to make sure if/when that moment arrives that we are able to ease Bynum back into that role of dominant bigman... The Lakers opened up an 18-11 lead with Kobe scoring 13 of those... The Lakers led 31-26 after the first, just 3 turnovers in the quarter by both teams. Very quick tempo... After bad plays by Vlad on both ends, Phil called a timeout. Out of the timeout, Vlad threw a horrible pass, turnover. A 7-0 run by the Knicks... We ran a Powell, Vlad, Ariza, Kobe, Sasha lineup and pulled back up by 7. Kobe back in the game and continuing where he left off... The Lakers extended to an 11-point lead, forcing another timeout with under 3 minutes left... The Lakers led 65-54 at the half. The Lakers shot 25-45 for 56 percent shooting, the Knicks made 20-45, 44 percent. Kobe and Pau had 50 of the Laker points. The Lakers had a 14-4 advantage on the break... The coaches warned the Lakers that the Knicks were a second-half team... The Knicks started with a 7-0 run... The Lakers extended it back to a 13-point lead before losing it on one of the few poor sections of game from Kobe. The Lakers called timeout and tried to get more off-the-ball work from Kobe to help him score that way... The Lakers led 96-86 heading into the fourth... Phil started the fourth with a Pau, Lamar, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup... Phil then brought in Powell at PF after a minute and a half. The team did a good job working the offense through Pau and led by 12 when Kobe returned... The Lakers cruised the rest of the way as Kobe went to work again... With Kobe and Pau getting to the line a ton, the Lakers shot 86 percent, 31-36 from there... The Lakers scored more than 30 points in every quarter...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Hover on Kobe's stints to see his production. He made 11-11 from the line in his fourth-quarter stint.

[mhan00]

nice

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB. Very nice write up as usual.

I want to enjoy this W, but I keep feeling bad for Drew.

[mhan00]

sasha has lost his shot. he was such a big spark for us off the bench last year; hopefully he can get that back.

[Luca Brasi]

i agree with DB. bynum will be back a lot earlier than speculated. whether he's able to pick up where he left of isn't important, it's his presence. even if he played like he was playing prior to the january bust out, we still win title - it'll just be more of a fair fight. if he's able to play like he did before the he got hurt though, then it's curtain for the league before a single playoff game is played.
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"i was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine, but i'm climbin' up to the highlands, goin' to make that mountain mine" ~ Lakers, 2011

[jmac78]

Why no Mihm tonight? Wouldn't be better to play him at backup C and Powell at PF before Vlad?

Nice write-up, btw.

[fsc401]

Thx.

Barry, I would love to see how long your lines were in Kobe' 81 point game.

[DancingBarry]

^Wish the site was never pruned from back then. I might have it on a computer some place.

[NYLakerFan]

Thanks DB ... as always yours is the first thing I look to read after every game.

Just a little contribution tonight ...

... a few observations from the Garden cheap seats ... my four sons and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Garden to see our Lakers play ... which now involves me buying EIGHT tickets since my two oldest now have significant others ;-(

The Garden was awash in GOLD tonight. In fact, after Knicks fans started exiting in the fourth, Gold was in the vast majority. Even after the game when we gathered outside the Garden in an effort to actually meet our favorites ... Laker fans seemed to be in the majority. The shivering crowd was shouting Kobe ... Kobe ... Kobe. And as each Laker made his appearance on the way to the team bus ... the crowd shouted. Luuuuuuuuuke. LAMAR!!!! Sun YUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEE!!!. It was amazing to see New Yorkers shouting for our Lakers.

Kobe was simply amazing. I swear there were times you could FEEL the 19,800 in attendance take a collective deep breath in as Kobe would begin one of his moves ... and then an incredible cheer when he scored. GOD! I love New York!!!! New Yorkers may be a tough sports crowd but ... they appreciate greatness when they see it better than any other city.

Lamar Odom in person is HUGE. I mean ... bigger than life ... shoulders as wide as a truck ... BIG.

On the flip side ... Pau is REALLY skinny. He looks more frail in person than he does on the screen. Damn that man need to work on his off-season conditioning. If he ever did ... WOW!

I heard a number of people saying how upset they were that they would not see Bynum.

Phil Jackson is also HUGE. The white haired old SOB looks like he could back down a few young centers in this league.

Many ... MANY New York fans are still pissed about Thomas sending Ariza away.

Did I mention that it seemed that Laker fans outnumbered Knicks fans IN THE GARDEN?

Pau may be skinny but ... I swear he is the quickest 7 footer in the league today.

Lamar is the best ... and I mean BEST ... help defender on the Lakers now that Bynum is out. Best. PERIOD. He was very active tonight. Yes ... he couldn't throw a pea in the ocean on offense tonight but defensively he seemed to be everywhere.

From the second the game began, Kobe was clearly in his stop me if you can mode.

Mbenga doesn't look very impressive in civilian clothes. I don't know ... I just thought he'd look bigger.

When Kobe left the game, he got a standing ovation. Seriously. In New York.

Walking back to our car IN NEW YORK there were Laker jerseys everywhere. And yes ... I wore my Laker shirt and so did my sons.

My oldest son's SO is a native New Yorker and HUGE Knick's fan. They sat in a different section than me (I could not get 8 tickers together) and she COMPLAINED that the Laker fans were too damn loud.

Did I mention ... this is NEW YORK

[SladeRider]

DB, I have to ask, now that we've seen a good amount of games of Pau at center (last season) and at power forward (this season), which one his is strongest position? and which one is his strongers in the triangle?
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"This is a comptitive city. We're used to winning titles, not just winning games and being in the first round. We want to win championships. Now's the time.", "do something, and do it now."
- Kobe Bryant

[Dr. Laker]

[DancingBarry]

[LarryCoon]

Sun Yue will tell his grandkids about the night he & Kobe combined for 61 against the Knicks....

[vida24]

kobe lakers

[DancingBarry]

[Downunder]

Thanks DB.

Another amazing performance from a "Living Legend"

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

[dna.]

Thanks as always DB!

And NYLakerFan - your post was a great read, always love to read insight from those in attendance at our road games. Thank you!

[NYLakerFan]

[limchrc]

Thanks. Kobe was awesome.

[Sage_10]

Great game by Kobe. Awesome recap.
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[prisma8slg]

great performance by Kobe, I felt he re-energized the team. always nice to hear MVP chants in someone else's house and really impressive to get a standing ovation on the road.

thanks DB
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[targetman]

I was hoping to have a DB storyline to read this morning. Maybe how gangsters' bodies, riddled with 61 bullet holes, were scattered over the streets of Manhattan.

That basket that got Spike Lee out of his seat was rerun about 5 times at my house. Body control and concentration that is unworldly
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Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

KOBE BEAN BRYANT
61
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[maddprophet]

and on the 8th day, god said, "let there be KOBE"!
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Spark the ism, my expertism, is lyracism, my flow will take you over like I was hypnotism...so where's the lighter, to start the cypher....