National Basketball Association

Kobe drops 41 as short-handed Lakers top Grizz

Published Nov. 7, 2009 8:03 a.m. ET

foxsports

Kobe Bryant always credits his mentors and teachers when he rolls past a scoring milestone. Given the manner in which he hit his latest superlative, he felt it was only appropriate to give a nod to Hakeem Olajuwon.

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.

Scoring basket after basket on turnaround jumpers and inside moves against the undersized Memphis defenders in the low post, Bryant carried the Lakers while reaching the milestone 38 days before Wilt Chamberlain did. With a second-half surge from his growing repertoire of inside moves, he even overtook Grizzlies guard Allen Iverson for 16th place on the NBA's career scoring list.