LOS ANGELES - After beating the Beast of the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers, last Sunday, the Lakers were paid a visit Thursday night by the Least of the East, the Washington Wizards.

If you ask the Wizards, the Lakers were ungracious hosts, in beating Washington for the fourth consecutive time. Seven Lakers scored in double figures and the Lakers improved their NBA-best record to 34-8.

Washington was without guard Gilbert Arenas, aka Agent Zero, who once dropped 60 points on the Lakers, at Staples Center. Arenas is out for the season with a knee injury. But the Wizards did have two familiar faces – former Lakers Caron Butler and Javaris Crittenton.

As expected, the Lakers got little resistence from the Wizards, who were coming off a rare road win Wednesday night at Sacramento but were no match for the Lakers, who padded their NBA-best record with the victory.

Center Andrew Bynum led a hot-shooting Laker team in the first half by making 6 of 7 field-goal tries. The Lakers’ 69.2 percent field-goal shooting in the first two quarters was a season-high for a half. Their 72 points scored also was a season high.