Kenny Smith said before the game: "I think that the key of this game is how able is going to be Jamal Crawford on containing Kobe". The game showed that not so much. Kobe poured in 46 points, including 19 in the first quarter, leading the Lakers to a 93-83 victory.
The Lakers used a strong start for building a 13-point first quarter lead. Quentin Richardson was called for 2 fouls in the first minute of the match, so Jerome Williams played unexpected minutes at the start of the game. Caron Butler (guarded by Williams) added 10 more points in the first. The score was 33-20 for the Lakers after 12 minutes. In the second quarter the story was nearly the same: Kobe scoring a lot and the Knicks trailing by more than 10. New York only had consistent play on Marbury and Mike Sweetney off the bench. At the half, Kobe had 31 and the Lakers led by 11, 51-40. The Knicks react in the 3rd period. Jamal Crawford scored 10 points and Mo´ Taylor added 8 more. New York also played good defense and started to run, which allow them fast-break points. Knicks cut the deficit to 5, 69-64 with one more quarter to play. In the fourth, Kobe scored 9 more in his way to 46 and Marbury was unable to direct correctly his teammates, comitting several turnovers and not assisting. He scored 22 but dished out only 3 assists. New York tried to play with Crawford as the point, but Allan Houston didn´t play well as SG. He was 2-10 FG and managed just 4 points. Another key of the game was the free throw percentage. The Knicks scored only 50% of their attempts on a 8 of 16 series. The Lakers controlled completely the game in the fourth and leaded by as many as 14 points.

The key matchup: Jamal trying to contain Kobe

Game Stats:
Knicks 83 (20+20+24+19) - Lakers 93 (33+18+18+24)
KNICKS
PG Marbury 22 pts, 9/18 FG, 3 rb, 3 as, 8 TO
SG Crawford 22pts, 10/17FG, 3 rb, 3 as
PF Taylor 11 pts, 11 rb, 5 as
LAKERS
SG Bryant 46 pts, 20/28 FG, 5 stl
SF Butler 23 pts, 4 rb, 4 as
MVP OF THE GAME: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 46 pts, 20/28 FG, 5 rb, 5 stl
HIGHLIGHTS

Kobe was ready for the game.

A one-handed jam over the smaller Crawford.

An unvelibeable two-handed tomahawk by Kobe.

Another look of this monster dunk! Zydrunas doesn´t attempt to block it!

Maurice slamming down his own miss.

MVP Player Of The Game