LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kobe Bryant scored 41 points while becoming the youngest player to reach 24,000, leading 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.
Iverson had eight points in 22 minutes coming off the bench in his third game with Memphis.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
