LOS ANGELES – Allan Houston was playing like $100 million bucks, Shaquille O’Neal was back in the trainer’s room nursing toe and knee ailments and Kobe Bryant needed to put on a gold sleeve for his sore left knee.
Just a Knick fantasy? No, it was Knick reality last night at Staples Center. With O’Neal missing from last night’s game, with a 7-1, 350-pound menace missing from the lane, the Knicks staged an LA party, with Houston the loudest rabble-rouser in a 117-110 Knicks’ win.
The Knicks would not waste this golden opportunity and Houston would not waste a chance to outperform Kobe Bryant in smoking to his career-high 53 points – 43 after three. No player had ever scored 50 points against the Lakers at Staples Center.
Houston became not only the first Knick to score that many points in a game since Bernard King turned the trick in 1955, it also was an NBA high this season.
“It felt good, man. It was like being on the playground. I didn’t know [about my point total]. Sometimes I am aware. I kind of didn’t want to look once I was getting close to 50.”
Outside the locker room, coach Don Chaney giddily fielded a congratulatory phone call from owner James Dolan, laughing most of the time he was on the phone.
“I haven’t seen one of those for a long, long time,” Chaney said of Houston’s gem. “He was relentless. They missed Shaq, of course, but I’m pleased our guys stepped up. Allan mixed it up. They didn’t know whether he was going to drive or shoot.”
What Kobe Bryant did to the Knicks 11 days ago at the Garden, Houston did worse to the Lakers. Bryant, who had 46 in the first meeting, finished with a “quiet” 40 in this battle of shooting-guard heavyweights.
After the Knicks smacked the Lakers, , the club moved to 2-0 on their once-feared and now-fine-looking Western swing. The Lakers were 3-9 to start the season without Shaq, who were wearing their alternate white jerseys donned only on Sundays. The Knicks are 2-0 on the trip, 1 ½ games out of the eighth seed after moving into ninth place.
From the left baseline, Houston sank his 50th and 51st points, making it 106-99 with 2:01 left. Bryant and Derek Fisher kept the Lakers on the fringe until Charlie Ward iced it with a left-wing trey with 40 seconds left that gave the Knicks a 111-103 lead.
On their first possession of the fourth, Houston set his career-high when he hit a jumper from the top of the key on a catch-and-shoot, giving him 45 points. His previous high of 44 was set last season in Milwaukee – a double-overtime game.
Houston rained in a 3-pointer in the closing seconds over Devean George to put the Knicks up 85-73 and give him 43 points after three. But the Lakers got a boost when George answered by pulling up at the midcourt line and nailed the halfcourt shot at the buzzer as the Knicks led 85-76 going into the fourth.
Boosted by two 3-pointers by Brian Shaw, the Lakers closed within 87-84 with 8:59 left before the Knicks went on a 9-0 game-breaking run.