Whether Andrew Bynum is healthy or hurt, Kobe Bryant savors the chance to play at Madison Square Garden once a year.
It showed in this highlight-filled exhibition that had Knicks fans turning to each other in amazement after numerous Bryant circus shots. After four previous 40-point games at the Garden, Bryant erupted for a 61 points to break Bernard King’s arena record.
Bryant made 19 of 31 field-goal attempts and 20 of 20 foul shots. He had three assists and two turnovers in 36:48 of play.
There were some hiccups in the Lakers’ defensive rotations, several involving Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, but New York shot just 44.1 percent from the field. The Lakers were never seriously threatened. The Knicks had lost just one of their past seven games, but they didn’t sell out to stop Bryant and Gasol from scoring 30 of the Lakers’ 31 first-quarter points.
Odom had the only other point on a game-starting free throw and finished with six points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 32 minutes. Vladimir Radmanovic and Josh Powell split the extra minutes available as a result of Bynum’s absence, but Gasol worked overtime: He didn’t get his usual first-quarter breather, played until 8:51 remained in the second quarter and finished with 31 points in 41 minutes.
