Los Angeles Lakers (32-10) at New York Knicks (17-24), 8 p.m.
Sports Network | January 22, 2010
(Sports Network) - NBA superstar Kobe Bryant made history last night, but it wasn't enough to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to victory over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the team's opener of a lengthy eight-game road trip.
Tonight, Bryant and Company will try to get back in the win column when they take on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Bryant became the youngest player to reach 25,000 career points with a late second-quarter free throw in Thursday's 93-87 loss and finished with 31 points for the Pacific Division-leading Lakers, who became the last team in the league to record double-digit losses (32-10). Pau Gasol helped out with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Lamar Odom posted 10 points and 10 boards in defeat.
"Last year, we were probably a little hungrier and played a little harder. This year, [the Cavaliers] were the hungrier team," said Bryant, who garnered 2,456,224 All-Star votes to lead Western Conference players. I think they sensed that they want to win a championship and want to go after it, so they're playing with a sense of urgency that we played with last year."
The Lakers, who had a three-game winning streak stopped, were swept by Cleveland in the season series for the third time in four years.
Los Angeles will also visit the Raptors, Wizards, Pacers, 76ers, Celtics and Grizzlies on this current trek. The team is 9-7 away from home this season.
New York will resume its five-game homestand tonight and ended a two-game slide with a 99-91 triumph over the Detroit Pistons on Monday in the back end of a home-and-home matchup. Nate Robinson sank 5-of-9 three-pointers and ended with 27 points, eclipsing the 20-point mark for the second time in four games. Double-double machine David Lee posted 15 rebounds to go along with 11 points for the Knicks, who are 10-11 at MSG this season.
"Before the game we just talked about winning, by any means necessary," Robinson said. "So our whole aspect was to just come out play hard and win. Even if it was an ugly win, we just had to get the job done."
Wilson Chandler had 17 points to help New York bounce back from a 94-90 loss to the Pistons on Saturday. Meanwhile, Lee has posted three straight double- doubles and is one of three players in the league averaging at least 19.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per contest. He leads all Eastern Conference centers in scoring with 19.1 ppg, and all NBA pivotmen in assists with 3.4 per outing.
New York hopes Lee can lead them past Los Angeles, which recorded a 100-90 triumph over the Knicks on November 24 at Staples Center. The Lakers have won five straight and 10 of the past 13 meetings in this series.
The Knicks, who won for just the second time in their last six tries, will also play host to Dallas, Minnesota and Toronto on the current residency.
