Kobe Bryant scored 41 points while becoming the youngest player to reach 24,000, to lead the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers to a 114-98 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

Ron Artest had 19 points and seven assists in the fourth straight win for the defending NBA champions, who played without injured big men Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

Lamar Odom managed just three points before fouling out on his 30th birthday, but Bryant carried the Lakers while reaching his latest scoring milestone 38 days before Wilt Chamberlain did. With a second-half surge, he even overtook Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson for 16th place on the NBA's career scoring list.

At New York, LeBron James scored 33 points in his only visit to Madison Square Garden this season, leading Cleveland 100-91 over New York.

James added nine assists and eight rebounds, but fell just short of passing Kobe Bryant as the active scoring leader at the Garden. James improved his average to 30.4 points, with Bryant averaging 30.5 in 11 visits, according to STATS LLC

multiple 50-point games

James had scored 50 or more in two of his last three visits, joining Michael Jordan as the only visiting players with multiple 50-point games at the current building.

At Portland, Oregon, Brandon Roy had 24 points and five rebounds and Steve Blake added 15 points as Portland got a lift from its new-look line-up, beating San Antonio Spurs 96-84.

At Oakland, California, Chris Kaman had 22 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes as the Los Angeles Clippers ended a seven-game losing streak in the Oakland Arena, beating Golden State Warriors 118-90.