Bryant's 58 fails to beat Bobcats

The Detroit Pistons' Rasheed Wallace reaches for the ball held by Indiana Pacers center Jeff Foster during the second quarter of their NBA game in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on Friday. The Pacers won 93-92. PHOTO: AP

Kobe Bryant had the third-highest scoring game of his career with 58 points, but the Los Angeles Lakers still came up a bit short against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday, losing 133-124 in triple overtime.

Bryant's trailed only his magical 81-point night against the Toronto Raptors last January and a 62-point performance against the Dallas Mavericks last December.

Four Bobcats replied with more than 20 points each, led by 28 from Gerald Wallace and a career-high 27 from Matt Carroll.

Emeka Okafor helped out with 22 and a career high 25 rebounds, while Raymond Felton also had 22 points to go with 15 assists to give the Bobcats victory in the first triple-overtime game in franchise history.

Bryant 22-of-45 from the field and was 10-of-12 from the free throw line, but missed on game-winning jump shots in the final seconds of regulation. He also committed a costly foul on Derek Anderson late in the third overtime.

Anderson all three of his foul shots, allowing the Bobcats to open up a five-point cushion with just more than a minute to play.

Nuggets 112, SuperSonics 98

At Denver, Allen Iverson helped give Denver coach George Karl his 800th win, finishing with 44 points and 10 assists.

Karl handed a Denver jersey with No. 800 on it, along with the game ball, after beating his former team to become only the 12th coach in NBA history to reach the milestone.

Karl has a record of 800-555 in 19 seasons.

Iverson his highest-scoring game since being acquired by Denver in a trade with Philadelphia on Dec. 19.

His season high is 46 against Chicago on Nov. 24.

Earl Boykins added 24 points and Reggie Evans had a season-high 18 rebounds.

Wizards 112, Magic 111

Gilbert Arenas scored 14 of his 36 points in the decisive fourth quarter here on Friday to power the Washington Wizards to a 112-111 victory over Orlando.

It marked the 12th time this month Arenas has reached the 30-point plateau.

A two-time All-Star, he entered Friday's matchup averaging 35 points per game this month.

The triumph gave the Wizards their first five-game winning streak since February 4-12, when it also strung together five in a row.

With the game tied at 108-108 with 44 seconds remaining, Caron Butler drained a baseline jumper and Antawn Jamison made two free throws to give the Wizards a four-point lead.

But Keyon Dooling hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to pull the Magic within 112-111.

Orlando a chance to win after Butler missed a pair of foul shots, but Dooling misfired from the right wing as time expired.

Nets 91, Heat 81

With the injured Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal watching from the bench, the New Jersey Nets rolled to a 91-81 win over the Heat in Miami.

Cavaliers 109, Bucks 99

LeBron James, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday, poured in 32 points and Donyell Marshall added a season best 29 as the Cavaliers earned a 109-99 win over Milwaukee.

Pacers 93, Pistons 92

Darrell Armstrong's only point of the game was a big one, dropping a foul shot with less than a second to play to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 93-92 win over the Detroit Pistons.