Lakers Gameday | 01/22/09 | Lakers 117, Wizards 97

LOS ANGELES(AP) Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 14 rebounds, Pau Gasol added 18 points and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 117-97 victory over the Washington Wizards on Thursday night.

On the third anniversary of his franchise-record 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors, Kobe Bryant had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds in 28 minutes.

Earlier in the day, he was selected to start in the All-Star game for the 11th consecutive season. He was the MVP of the event in 2002 and 2007, joining Magic Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal as the only Lakers to win the award twice.

The Lakers' .809 winning percentage (34-8) is the best in the NBA, although Boston leads them by a half-game in the overall standings by virtue of their 90-80 win at Orlando in the only other game Thursday night. The Celtics have played three more games than the Lakers, whom they beat in last year's finals.

This back-to-back set with the Clippers and Wizards wasn't much of a challenge for the defending Western Conference champions, whose 34-8 start is their best since 1971-72. Washington fell to 9-33, one night after the Clippers' record dropped to 9-32.

Bynum, who had a career-high 42 points along with 15 rebounds against the Clippers, played just 27 minutes against the Wizards and sat out the final 8:28. Phil Jackson kept the rest of the starters on the bench throughout the fourth quarter with the Lakers leading 97-68.

Antawn Jamison scored 19 points for the woeful Wizards, who have lost eight of their last 10 games and 18 of 23.

Los Angeles posted its eighth wire-to-wire victory this season - and second against Washington. Butler, who spent the 2004-05 campaign with the Lakers, had 12 points and six assists. He had 26 points the last time the teams met on Dec. 5, but missed a 3-point jumper that would have given the Wizards a victory. Instead, the Lakers won 106-104.

The rematch was no contest, as the Wizards fell to the Lakers for the fifth straight time. Los Angeles led 72-47 at halftime after outscoring the undermanned Wizards 15-5 over the final 3 1-2 minutes of the second quarter.

The half ended on a long no-look, slingshot pass from Bryant to Bynum all alone under the basket for a dunk after Trevor Ariza stole the ball from Mike James near midcourt. The 72 points were a season high for the Lakers in one half, as was their 69.2 shooting percentage.

Washington is 8-23 since Ed Tapscott took over as head coach for the fired Eddie Jordan. The Wizards, who beat Sacramento 110-107 on Wednesday at ARCA Arena, are 0-9 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season and have yet to win consecutive road games.

Bryant, playing with a dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand, came in averaging 23.8 points, 11.3 assists and 9.0 rebounds in his previous four games, with two triple-doubles. He was presented for the player of the month award for December by Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak at midcourt before the national anthem.

Notes: The Lakers led by 36 points after Sasha Vujacic's layup with 2:09 left in the third. Their largest winning margin over the Washington/Baltimore franchise is 35 points, on March 16, 1994, at the Forum (129-94), when the Wizards were still known as the Bullets and current Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis was still playing for Los Angeles. Wes Unseld was Washington's coach and Randy Pfund coached the Lakers, with a starting backcourt of Nick Van Exel and Sedale Threatt. ... In Washington's last 31 games, only two opponents have scored as many as 30 points - Cleveland's LeBron James (30) and New York's David Lee (30). ... Only one player has scored 30 or more points against the Lakers in their last 17 games. That was David West, who had 40 in New Orleans' 116-105 win on Jan. 6. ... The Lakers are 20-1 when allowing fewer than 100 points. The only blemish was an 89-87 loss at Miami on Dec. 19. ... Wizards second-year G Javaris Crittenton, a first-round pick by the Lakers in 2007, played 16 minutes and had 10 points and six rebounds. ... The Lakers' next game is Sunday against San Antonio. Los Angeles is 8-0 this season Sundays.

Pain doesn't seem to phase Kobe Bryant, especially if his teammates continue to offer their support.

Despite a finger injury, the reigning league MVP hopes to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a third straight victory overall and fifth in a row over the lowly Washington Wizards on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Two days after dislocating his ring finger in a win over Cleveland, Bryant had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a 108-97 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.

It was the second triple-double in three games for Bryant, who hadn't had one since April 1, 2005 before posting 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over Orlando on Friday.

"We're in a good rhythm of how teams are playing against me, how they're matching up against me," said Bryant, who has 45 assists in his last four games - the most in any four-game stretch in his career.

Normally, the 16th career triple-double for Bryant, averaging 25.8 points all-time versus Washington, wouldn't be overshadowed by a teammate. That was the case as 21-year-old center Andrew Bynum enters this contest coming off a career-high 42-points against the Clippers.

Plagued by injuries throughout his previous three seasons, Bynum shot 17-of-24 from the floor and pulled down 15 rebounds in making his 40th start.

"He is a great player,'' said Clippers rookie DeAndre Jordan of Bynum, who became the first Lakers player to reach 40 points other than Bryant since Shaquille O'Neal scored 48 against Boston on March 21, 2003.

"He is big," Jordan added. "When he gets in the paint he takes up a lot of space."

With Bynum and Lamar Odom healthy, plus the usual consistency from veterans Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher, the Lakers (33-8) are the highest scoring team in the NBA at 107.6 points per game while boasting six players averaging 9.0 points or more. That's taken the pressure off Bryant to carry the entire scoring load like in recent seasons.

Bryant scored 23 points to lead six players in double figures during Los Angeles' 106-104 win at Washington on Dec. 5. The Lakers are averaging 113.3 points during their four-game winning streak over the Wizards.

Washington (9-32) enters this contest coming off a rare road win, 110-107 at Sacramento on Wednesday in the second of a four-game western swing. The victory snapped a six-game road losing streak to improve the Wizards to 3-17 away from home.

"We continue to fight," said forward Antawn Jamison, who had 33 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards, who held on after seeing their 19-point fourth-quarter lead cut to one with 3.9 seconds left. "You don't want to go into L.A. with two (straight) losses."

Caron Butler scored 32 points for Washington, which shot 51.8 percent and topped the 100-point mark for just the second time in 13 games. With All-Star Gilbert Arenas highlighting a hefty injury list, the Wizards are among the lowest-scoring teams in the NBA averaging 94.6 points per game.

"This is our team, there is no help coming," Butler said. "We have a lot of young guys playing right now and I'm getting more and more of a feeling of what they like to do out there."

Butler, averaging 19.9 points on the season, had 26 against the Lakers last month.