LOS ANGELES — The Knicks couldn’t beat the L.A. traffic or the world champion Lakers last night at Staples Center.
The night started with a bad omen when half the team — and coach Mike D’Antoni — showed up to Staples Center just 45 minutes before tip-off, nearly an hour late.
The team bus got caught in a massive traffic jam on the L.A. freeways and then the Lakers jammed them 100-90. Even worse, center Eddy Curry, after an ineffective first half, sat out the second half with a sore knee – an ailment that plagued him all last season. The Knicks, who play in Sacramento tonight, dropped to 3-11. Curry may not be available.
The players were stuck on a bus from Santa Monica for 1½ hours instead of going through their normal pregame routine.
“You get out of your routine,” Chris Duhon said. “You don’t get your shots up before the game. Everything was a rush. I wasn’t sure we’d be in there in time for the game.”
Perhaps they should’ve just pointed the bus north to Sacramento. The Knicks probably had a better time in traffic than they had in the third quarter, when the Lakers blew the game open with a 17-0 run to go up 22 and knock the Knicks out.
D’Antoni called two timeouts during the spree, but it did nothing to slow the Lakers. ” We took contested shots,”Larry Hughes said. “We just lost control of what we’re trying to do.”
Kobe Bryant finished with 34 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Lakers bludgeoned the Knicks on the boards, 60-36 with their size. The Knicks shot an anemic 38 percent.
“When you shoot 38 percent, there’s a lot of rebounds,” D’Antoni said, “but obviously we’re going against three 7-footers [Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and the 6-10 Lamar Odom].” Gasol (16) and Odom (12) combined for 28 boards.
D’Antoni said Curry “twisted” his knee and wasn’t sure if he would be available tonight. Curry bumped knees with Bynum and then got tripped up by Nate Robinson as he ran down court. He said he hopes to play tonight and claimed he was taken out for precautionary reasons after committing three turnovers in the first half and shooting 1 of 3 in his fourth game.
“We’ll revaluate (Wednesday) and see where I’m at, see how it responds overnight,” Curry said.
The Knicks made their patented meaningless run late in the fourth quarter, whittling a 25-point deficit to eight in the final minute. Al Harrington experienced an unusually quiet night (2-for-7, five points). Both Harrington and Curry were on the late bus. Wilson Chandler, after a big start, finished with 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting.
All the stars were out. Even Alex Rodriguez showed up, sans Kate Hudson. A-Rod sat one seat from Spike Lee, who was next to his old rival Reggie Miller, undoubtedly reminiscing when the Knicks were good. Stevie Wonder, Andy Garcia, Jack Nicholson and Knicks fan Richard Lewis all took it in but didn’t see much drama.
The only one missing was Allen Iverson, who could have made his debut last night had the Knicks gone through with their internal decision to sign him.
D’Antoni said the late arrival wasn’t a big factor. Compounding the hurried preparation before tip-off was the Knicks had cancelled their morning shootaround.
“Sometimes you play great, sometimes bad,” D’Antoni said. “I wouldn’t put much stock into it. They’re the champions. Until someone says something different they’re the champions.”
The Lakers pulled away after taking a 55-45 lead at halftime. Bryant hit a tough pull-up and Ron Artest, after an awful first half, sank a wide-open corner jumper, more open than Kevin Garnett was the other day at the overtime buzzer. That gave the 15-time champs a 71-52 lead with 5:55 left in the third as D’Antoni called time out, screaming at his players with his palms up as they walked to the bench.
The timeout didn’t quell the bloodshed. The Lakers came right at the Knicks, with Bryant hitting again from the left side for a 72-52 lead and Artest, who finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, driving baseline before dishing to Gasol for a massive dunk with 4:01 left, prompting another timeout for D’Antoni.
Hughes, who defended Bryant, said, “We didn’t do enough to limit what he was doing. He was still able to control the game.”
The Knicks seemed alert for most of the first half. With the Lakers playing laid-back, the Knicks grabbed the lead 41-40 on two free throws with 3:26 left in the second quarter by Chandler . The Lakers finally awoke and outscored the Knicks 15-4 to take a 10-point lead into the half.
“Good teams close quarters,” Hughes said. “That’s what we didn’t do. We had a great opportunity to be down two at halftime. We were down 10.”