Kobe Bryant arrived on Broadway in all his gold-and-purple brilliance yesterday, recorded his historic 20,000th point and sliced up the Knicks so badly it prompted Isiah Thomas to announce he’s shaking up his starting lineup.
Not bad for an afternoon’s work in Manhattan, even for the broad-shouldered Bryant.
The great Bryant racked up 39 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the Lakers built a 25-point, third-quarter lead and desperately held on against a raging Knicks’ rally by the second unit.
The 95-90 thriller at the Garden was packed with Lakers fans, but they got overwhelmed by the deafening roars for the hometown team as guys like David Lee, Malik Rose and Nate Robinson spurred a crazed rally that fell short and put the Knicks at a season-worst 11 games under .500 (8-19).
The Knicks whittled the 25-point deficit to one with 1:55 left as Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph sat on the bench for much of the second half. Lee started the second half for Curry, who is on his way to the pine for the foreseeable future – Thomas’ admission the Randolph-Curry tandem is a failure.
Thomas announced in the locker room to the players changes were coming before informing the media, too.
“We have to find some guys who can consistently defend for 48 minutes,” Thomas said. “Clearly right now we don’t have that. But we do have it within this team. We’ll find that and we’ll play those guys.”
Rose made a startling admission:
“There’s got to be a point where you get tired of this happening,” he said. “No one in particular, but this locker room is content with getting beat.”
The Knicks made it interesting into the final possession, thanks to the second string. Trailing by three with 4.2 seconds left, Lee tried inbounding the ball to Robinson at halfcourt. Jordan Farmar intercepted the pass and drove in for a game-ending dunk.
Blazing Jamal Crawford, who scored 30 of his 31 points in the second half, including 12 straight, is the lone starter from yesterday who’s safe. Curry, Randolph, struggling small forward Quentin Richardson and point guard Fred Jones are in danger.
The Post has learned that starting point guard Stephon Marbury, who has missed eight of the last 11 games on bereavement leave, is planning to rejoin the Knicks in Orlando for Wednesday’s game.
“At this point, why not?” Crawford said of the lineup shakeup. “We’re 8-19 with the way we’ve been going, so we should try to change things up and see what happens.”
Bryant shot 14 of 28, threw down four dunks, made 5 of 12 3-pointers and hit a handful of impossible fallaways that had the Garden in a tizzy. Bryant yesterday became the youngest player to reach 20,000 points when he scored on a right-wing trey in the third quarter.
“It’s special to do it here,” Bryant said. “The culture of basketball here, it is the mecca. This is my favorite place.” After watching up close what has come of the Knicks, Bryant might want to scratch the Knicks off his short wish list he revealed Saturday.
Rose, whose defensive grit helped change the game, entered for Randolph three minutes into the third quarter. Randolph, who had a pass bounce off his head in the first half, did not return.
“I want to play,” Randolph said. “But they came back and made a run. I have to support my teammates. [Thomas] said he was going to make changes. We’ll find out. Probably what we need is change.”
Curry, badly schooled by Jersey’s young 7-foot phenom Andrew Bynum, played three minutes in the second half after not starting. Curry missed wildly on his inside shots, saw Bynum outjump him for rebounds, and watched as a statue passively as Lakers backup center Chris Mihm roared in for a tomahawk dunk that had the entire Lakers bench on its feet.
“I don’t think anyone will take it personally,” Curry said. “He obviously does [think it’s necessary]. It doesn’t matter [what I think]. Will he trade people? I don’t know. He’s the coach and GM.”
Lakers 95 Knicks 90