Kobe Bryant, Lakers get Christmas revenge vs. Knicks

• Los Angeles Lakers beat New York Knicks 100-94 Tuesday afternoon
• The Lakers, who were struggling most of the season, have won 5 straight, are now at 14-14 overall
• Tyson Chandler fouling out was a big blow to the Knicks defensive effort

LOS ANGELES — No matter the outcome, the Los Angeles Lakers had shown up in this showdown with the New York Knicks on Tuesday at Staples Center.

This was far from a repeat of Dec. 13, when coach Mike D'Antoni made the most humbling of returns to his old Madison Square Garden haunt that seemed to confirm all the reasons he hadn't been able to cut it as Knicks coach in the three seasons before he resigned in March. But the Lakers' ability to not only keep up with the Knicks but outlast them 100-94 made this the high point of their disastrous season, a fifth consecutive win that may very well spur this so-called Super Team onto bigger and better things.

They had point guard Steve Nash this time, and that meant promise was back and potential would be filled again for this 14-14 team that hadn't been at the .500 mark since Nov. 30 (8-8). Nash, who returned on Saturday from the left leg injury that had him out since Oct. 31 and hit a game-winner against Golden State, helped stave off a late Knicks run with a step-back jumper with 1:47 remaining that put the Lakers up 96-91.

The Lakers held on from there, benefiting from the departure of reigning Defensive Player of the Year, center Tyson Chandler, with 2:22 left when he fouled out. Chandler would have come in handy with 12 seconds left, when Lakers forward Pau Gasol dribbled unimpeded from atop the key for a dunk that all but sealed it. The Lakers survived despite the loss of small forward Metta World Peace to his sixth foul with 1:58 remaining. World Peace had perhaps his best game of the season, finishing with 20 points and seven rebounds while helping slow Knicks star Carmelo Anthony (34 points on 13 of 23 shooting). Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 34 points (14 of 24 shooting), while Nash had 16 points and 11 assists.

The Lakers can't say that they're back, mainly because they never arrived in the first place.

Even with this win that was the high-water mark of this so-called Super Team's season, they are now – by virtue of their 14-14 record and the statistical realities that come with it – officially mediocre. Their five-game winning streak is a sign of progress, to be sure, but hardly evidence of title contender status considering the lowly Toronto Raptors achieved the same feat just last week.

Yet the winning in this sort of cohesive, confident, chemistry-filled way – with Nash orchestrating, Bryant dominating, Metta World Peace intimidating, and Dwight Howard defending - may have been enough to warrant the Lakers announcing that they finally arrived. If only they cared about such things.

No, the bumpy road they took to get here taught them plenty about the four-plus months that lie ahead: this is no time to get cocky.

"I wouldn't say (they've turned a corner) yet," said Nash, who had 16 points and 11 assists in his second game back from a left leg injury that had kept him out since Oct. 31. "I think our team has got a lot of work (and) building to do.

"This is a team that has struggled, and I don't want to find any complacency yet. So we've got to stay humble and hungry and really have an underdog mentality."

Bryant, who tied the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony with the game-high in scoring with 34 points, continues to focus on the bigger picture at hand.

"People can be extremely positive of how you're performing and the job that you're doing the entire regular season, the entire playoffs, and then you lose in the Finals and you're the (expletive) worst," he said. "People can say you suck for the entire season, and you win the Finals and people don't give a (expletive) what happened before that. It's all about what you do in the Finals. It doesn't matter what you do on a Monday or a Tuesday."

As Tuesdays go, though, this was pretty good.

While wins vs. the Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Bobcats and Golden State Warriors had certainly been steps in the right direction for the Lakers, this was easily their most impressive win thus far. The Knicks (20-8) not only entered with the league's fourth-best record but with a need for a win after dropping two of their last four.

Anthony, who was virtually unguardable in the previous matchup in which he scored 30 points in 23 minutes before leaving with a sprained ankle and the Knicks led by as many as 26 points, must have felt all the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning when he first took the floor. Because D'Antoni brought World Peace off the bench for the third straight game, the 6-foot-8 Anthony was defended by 6-4, second-year point guard Darius Morris in what had to have been one of the most one-sided matchups of this season.

Anthony soared over the shorter Morris with ease for a 17-footer, then hit another midrange jumper moments later in a three-point play before World Peace mercifully took over for Morris.

World Peace's impact was both instant and constant. He scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, hitting four of five three-pointers while holding Anthony to just five more points before the break (10 of his 34 in the first half). Bryant led the Lakers with 15 points as the Lakers led 51-49.

Anthony, who entered play trailing only Bryant among the league's scoring leaders (28.3 points per game), could only be contained for so long. Despite D'Antoni starting World Peace to start the second half, Anthony scored seven quick points – two jumpers and a three - during a 12-2 Knicks run that put them up 61-53 early in the third quarter.

After a J.R. Smith three-point put the Knicks up 72-61, Bryant answered with a three that came after a Nash handoff on the right wing in which Bryant was isolated with Raymond Felton. Bryant blew by Smith going right at the end of the quarter for a driving layup that cut the lead to one after he was fouled and converted the three-point play.

The Lakers controlled the Knicks in the final quarter, winning the period 23-16 by allowing just 6 of 16 shooting (37.5 percent, including 2 of 7 from Smith). TNT analyst and former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy, among so many others, was impressed.

"To try to jump to conclusions off of their start, which was muddled due to all the change and injury, was probably a mistake," Van Gundy told USA TODAY Sports. "And to jump to conclusions off the last two wins with Nash back is probably a mistake. But they certainly look to me like they played with a greater perseverance and spirit when they got down the last two games.

"I thought (the Lakers) being down 14 to Golden State, down nine (against the Knicks) to summon enough good plays together to win, I think is a good sign for them. I think certainly that winning five games in a row after being 9-14, to be even again is good. Nash makes such a difference. They're still trying to figure out their rotations, who they want to start and finish with. But the last two games (with Nash) have to make them feel better about themselves, about the possibilities."