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By Roger Phillips
Kobe Bryant’s message to the Knicks last night was to go, get Carmelo Anthony, after he took the Garden by storm with his spirited performance, scoring 33 points in 29 minutes, as the Lakers beat Knicks 113-96.
It kept getting more intense as the Knicks chased after Anthony. One day after Mike D’Antoni said the Knicks are getting perturbed by chants from the crowd for Anthony and talks about a possible trade, Raymond Felton, the Knicks’ co-captain, went off after the loss. Speaking of the trade talk, he said, “It’s starting to really get on my nerves.”
On being asked if the Knicks need to add another superstar, Bryant smirked, “Is that your way of asking about Carmelo?” He continued, “They’ve got some really good pieces The future is bright for them. But who we kidding? We’re talking about Carmelo Anthony. (He) is a bad boy. So you figure it out?”
D’Antoni, Donnie Walsh and Felton too agree that the Anthony rumors are chipping away. “These are my teammates,” Felton said. “I’m going to fight for my teammates. I love my teammates. You keep hearing all this extra stuff about your teams, yeah, it’s starting to really get on my nerves.”
As a large crowd of Lakers fans cheered on their team, Bryant, who heard chants of “M-V-P” when he shot free throws, set the tone early. The Lakers were comfortably ahead throughout after Bryant’s 19-point first quarter picked up the electric start to the game. “(Bryant) took our heart a little bit,” said D’Antoni, whose team slipped back to .500 at 26-26.
Amar’e Stoudemire scored 24 points with 10 rebounds for the Knicks, but he had six turnovers and picked up his 14th technical foul for a prolonged argument. Pau Gasol torched Stoudemire early in the third quarter. Bryant didn’t have to play the fourth quarter as the Lakers led by 17 points after three and extended the advantage to 20 points midway through the fourth. The Knicks, who face the Nets tonight in Newark with a chance of falling to a losing record for the first time since late November.
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