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Knicks' Crowd Goes Easy on Lakers' Bryant

Posted on: Thursday, 20 November 2003, 06:00 CST

Plenty of whistles. Not many boos. The Los Angeles Lakers got almost every call from the officials during a 104-83 victory over the Knicks on Wednesday night. And the New York crowd went easy on Kobe Bryant, who barely heard a boo at Madison Square Garden and called it "the best reception" he's had away from home.

The Lakers ended a three-game road losing streak with the help of a stunning 47-6 edge in free throw attempts. The game featured 53 fouls - 34 on the Knicks.

"I don't know if the rules have changed, but I'm very surprised at the way the game was called," Knicks center Dikembe Mutombo said. "Some of the fouls, I've seen them let it go before, and today they were calling every bump. I don't know, maybe I have to go read the rule book again."

Bryant, Karl Malone and Shaquille O'Neal each made more free throws than the Knicks attempted. The Lakers were 37-for-47 from the line, while New York was 6-for-6.

"We've been playing pretty poorly on the road," Bryant said. "It was important for us to come out and get a victory here."

In other games, it was New Orleans 81, Boston 73; Washington 106, Cleveland 95; Philadelphia 81, Toronto 75; Indiana 91, the Los Angeles Clippers 78; Houston 85, Golden State 83; Sacramento 118, Utah 110; Denver 94, Milwaukee 86; Detroit 99, Memphis 92; and Portland 94, Miami 93.

Malone had 17 points and 14 rebounds, O'Neal scored 23 points and Bryant added 21. The Lakers won easily against a Knicks team that was short-handed to begin with - Keith Van Horn sat out with a sprained ankle - and was further depleted by all the whistles.

Allan Houston, Kurt Thomas and Mutombo each picked up two fouls within the first 5 1/2 minutes.

"They played aggressively, but I don't think we played that passive to have that kind of discrepancy, either," Houston said.

Hornets 81, Celtics 73

At Boston, Baron Davis scored 17 points, and P.J. Brown added 12 points and 16 rebounds as New Orleans won its fourth straight.

Jamaal Magloire had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets, who outrebounded the Celtics 50-31.

Wizards 106, Cavaliers 95

At Washington, Gilbert Arenas scored 25 points, Etan Thomas worked hard for a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the Wizards kept LeBron James and Cleveland winless on the road.

James scored a career-high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting with eight assists and seven rebounds, but Thomas was the dominant force in the game. He came off the bench to cap an eventful evening that started when he got rear-ended in a car accident on the way to the arena.

The Cavaliers are 0-7 on the road this season and 0-28 since January of last season.

76ers 81, Raptors 75

At Toronto, Marc Jackson scored 23 points, Aaron McKie added 21 and Philadelphia won despite playing without injured starters Allen Iverson, Glenn Robinson and Derrick Coleman.

Iverson, the NBA's leading scorer, missed his first game in more than a year with a swollen right knee, ending a streak of 110 consecutive games played.

Pacers 91, Clippers 78

At Indianapolis, Al Harrington scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Pacers, who improved to an NBA-best 9-2.

Harrington started in place of All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal, who missed the game with tendinitis in his right knee.

Rockets 85, Warriors 83

At Houston, Yao Ming scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Steve Francis scored 23 as the Rockets sent Golden State to its fourth consecutive loss.

Erick Dampier had 15 points and 11 rebounds, but missed two free throws that would have given the Warriors the lead with 18.5 seconds left.

Kings 118, Jazz 110

At Salt Lake City, Peja Stojakovic scored 30 points and Sacramento handed Utah its first home loss of the season.

Mike Bibby finished with 18 points, and Brad Miller had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Kings, who won their seventh straight regular-season game at Utah.

Nuggets 94, Bucks 86

At Denver, Andre Miller hit a basket in the lane with 2:33 left, capping an 8-0 run that carried the Nuggets past Milwaukee.

Miller finished with 17 points and eight assists. Carmelo Anthony had 13 points and 11 rebounds after going scoreless in the first half.

Pistons 99, Grizzlies 92

At Memphis, Tenn., Chauncey Billups scored 25 of his season-high 33 points in the second half for Detroit.

The Pistons won their third straight and ended Memphis' three-game winning streak, which included victories over the Lakers and Mavericks.

Trail Blazers 94, Heat 93

At Portland, Ore., Qyntel Woods hit two free throws with 0.4 seconds remaining to lift the Trail Blazers.

Rasheed Wallace had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who trailed by 14 in the fourth quarter before rallying. Zach Randolph added 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Eddie Jones scored 26 points and rookie Dwyane Wade added 24 to lead Miami.

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