LA Lakers 130, New York 97

Yahoo.com: NEW YORK (AP) — Chants of “MVP!” “MVP” rained down from the Madison Square Garden crowd as Tuesday night’s game was ending.

Kobe Bryant gave the New York fans something to cheer about during a dismal season.

Bryant scored 40 points, despite making only one field goal in the second half, to cap off his sensational month and lead the Los Angeles Lakers over the frustrated Knicks 130-97.

Bryant sparked a pair of early runs, then spent the rest of the night leading a parade of Lakers to the foul line. He was 7-of-17 from the field and 23-of-26 at the line before heading to the bench with 5 1/2 minutes to go and waiting for the applause from the New York crowd.

“It feels good,” said Bryant, who on Monday called Madison Square Garden his favorite place to play. “It lets me know they appreciate what I do out there on the floor.”

It’s hard not to appreciate Bryant after what he did in January.

The NBA’s leading scorer averaged 43.4 points in 13 games, highlighted by his 81-point outing that was the second-best scoring game in NBA history. He joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to average 40 or more points in a month more than once.

Chamberlain, whose 100-point game is the only one better than Bryant’s career-best outing, did it 11 times according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bryant also averaged 40.6 points in February 2003.

Not everyone was so impressed. Bryant said a ballboy told him he was “slacking tonight” after only scoring 40 points.

“It’s easy,” teammate Smush Parker joked. “No, Kobe Bryant is a great player. It’s incredible. It’s fun to play with him, it’s fun to play in the backcourt with him.”

Elgin Baylor is the only other player to average 40 in a month.

Rookie reserve Andrew Bynum went 7-for-7 for a career-high 16 points, Parker added 15 points and Chris Mihm had 14 for the Lakers, who were 43-of-58 from the line. The Knicks were 20-of-24.

Bryant sat out the early part of the second quarter, then helped the Lakers blow open the game midway through the period. He scored the final seven points in a 12-0 run that extended a seven-point lead to a 49-30 advantage with 4:17 left in the half.

By then, the Knicks were fed up with watching Bryant and the rest of the Lakers parade to the foul line. Davis was called for a flagrant foul when he grabbed Bryant by the neck with 7:09 left in the third quarter, and New York’s Channing Frye and Mihm were called for double technicals with 5:46 remaining in the period.

“I felt like they were frustrated and they have a reason to be frustrated,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “Things didn’t happen for them and it’s a frustrating thing for these young kids.”

Brown was ejected during a timeout following that play. Referee Steve Javie called a first technical on Brown, then a second and an automatic ejection after Brown continued to argue.

The Lakers now will be the first opponents of Peja Stojakovic since becoming a Pacer, as they travel to Conseco Fieldhouse for a key match-up in this seven-game road trip. Tipping off at 4:00 PM PST, we will have live Gameday coverage as always in our CL.com Forums.

Did the Lakers do a great job of stepping on the opposition once they were cornered? How about the play from Andrew Bynum? Can we expect to see more performances like this one from the rookie? Sound off on our CL.com Forums!

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