Kobe’s World
Toronto, Canada – Just hours after the Los Angeles Lakers found out the extent of Andrew Bynum’s latest knee injury, Kobe Bryant took it upon himself to make sure his team wouldn’t lose.
The Toronto Raptors don’t need any reminders of Bryant’s capabilities.
Bryant will try to follow up his 61-point performance in New York when the Lakers head north of the border Wednesday to face the Raptors, who had a front-row seat for the superstar’s career-high 81 points more than three years ago.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook Sports Interaction have made the Lakers –7.5 point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Raptors. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 83% of more than 295 bets for this game have been placed on the Lakers –7.5.
Los Angeles (38-9) found out on Monday that it would be without the services of its emerging 21-year-old center for the next eight to 12 weeks, news that was particularly disturbing since Bynum suffered a similar injury around the same time last year.
He missed the rest of the 2007-08 season after dislocating his left kneecap in mid-January, and on Saturday he tore the MCL in his right knee when Bryant crashed into Bynum’s leg after a missed shot.
The Lakers made it to the NBA finals without Bynum, though, and on Monday night Bryant showed why they’re more than capable of doing so again this season. The league’s reigning MVP scored 61 points at Madison Square Garden – the single-game record for the famed arena – and Los Angeles moved to 3-0 on its six-game road trip, beating New York 126-117.
"He was on fire from the start and finished the game almost the same way,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "That was a remarkable performance.”
It was the 24th 50-point game in Bryant’s career.
"It’s a blessing to do what you love and have moments like this," Bryant said."I think it was a combination of things. (Bynum) going down. This kind of being a hump game in the road trip. I felt like I needed to focus even more."
One of those 24 came against the Raptors (19-31), but Bryant’s performance on Jan. 22, 2006, at Staples Center was even more remarkable. He had 81 points, the second-most in league history, as Los Angeles topped Toronto 122-104.
Bryant had 46 points in the Lakers’ last visit to Air Canada Centre, a 121-101 win on Feb. 1, 2008. He had 23 and Pau Gasol scored a game-high 24 as Los Angeles beat Toronto 112-99 at home on Nov. 30.
Despite Bryant’s brilliance on Monday, the Lakers are 25-0 this season when he’s scored 27 points or fewer.
The spotlight will be on Gasol to produce with Bynum injured, and he’s been outstanding so far on the Lakers’ road trip, averaging 25.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
The Raptors, meanwhile, continue to languish in last place in the Atlantic Division, and they’ve lost three in a row. The past two have come against two of the league’s best, 113-90 at home to Orlando on Sunday and 101-83 in Cleveland on Tuesday.
Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal combined for 49 points, but LeBron James had 33 to surpass Bryant as the fastest player in NBA history to reach the 12,000-point plateau.
"There’s not much you can say,” Bosh said. "It’s not the first time he (James) has done it. It won’t be the last."
The Raptors are 10-17 on the road, and an especially disappointing 9-14 in Toronto. They’ve lost five of their last six at home, and were booed throughout the blowout loss to the Magic.
"The energy in the building isn’t good,” Bosh said. "Everything just goes to shambles and I think we feed off that too much. We can’t pay attention to what’s in the stands."
Bosh was limited to 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting in the Nov. 30 loss at Los Angeles.
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Posted: 2/4/09 2:30AM ET