Close shave, but they aren’t nicked

As Lakers fans have learned, with hands covering their faces on many an occasion, no lead is too large for their team.

Maybe no deficit is too large either.

The Lakers were leakier than ever, allowing a mind-boggling 65 points in the first half to the New York Knicks, but then rallied from a 15-point halftime hole to win, 116-114, Tuesday at Staples Center.

It’s not the way they would want to do it, nor was it generally recommended to give such a lead to an NBA opponent, but the Lakers scratched out a victory in a game that Pau Gasol missed because of strep throat.

Tuesday was no different for a team that fiddled with fire in recent weeks -- road losses to Indiana and Sacramento, and unimpressive home wins over Minnesota, Sacramento and Phoenix.

But they eventually energized a Staples Center crowd that had booed them with surprising force as they headed to the locker room at halftime, down by a stunning 65-50 count.

Only when Chris Duhon air-balled a heave at the buzzer from beyond halfcourt could the Lakers (21-3) exhale.

Another victory for a team that just keeps collecting them, though the script was definitely different this time.

Gasol was sent home 90 minutes before tipoff and was not a certainty to be ready for Friday’s game at Miami. He would probably be replaced again by Lamar Odom, who started for the first time this season and finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Odom was suffering from an upper respiratory infection and left the game at one point to return to the locker room because he felt ill. Like the Lakers, he never fretted.

“I just ran back out there and tried to do my job,” he said. “They play such an up-tempo style of basketball, they don’t really take any time off the clock. So being down 15, you can work yourself back into the game.”

The Lakers took a 113-112 lead with 1:03 to play when Odom found Trevor Ariza for an alley-oop layup after Ariza nearly threw the ball over Odom’s head on an inbounds pass.

The teams then traded free throws before Derek Fisher made only one of two, giving the Lakers a two-point edge with 2.7 seconds to play.

It was enough . . . barely. The Knicks, out of timeouts, were unable to get a shot any better than Duhon’s heave from the backcourt.

“Good win for us,” said Andrew Bynum, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds. “We showed the ability to pick up the intensity and play better defense.”

Kobe Bryant again flew freely against the Knicks after averaging 31.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists in two games against them last season. He had 28 points, seven rebounds and six assists Tuesday, including a nine-point fourth quarter. He also had four steals.

The Lakers’ schedule has been front-loaded with home games, but they now begin a four-game trip that includes stops in Orlando (19-6) and New Orleans (14-7).

“It’s four games in five nights,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “We’re going to be pressed a little bit, physically. It’s going to be good for us. We’re looking forward to the trip. . . . I think the challenge is important.”

That the Knicks scored so often in the first 24 minutes was bad enough for the Lakers, though New York did come into Tuesday as the league’s third-highest scoring team (107 a game).

That the Knicks made 11 of 23 three-point attempts in the first half was a bit more surprising. They entered the game as the league leader with 29.7 three-point attempts per game.

The Lakers, however, have made a habit of close victories against sub-.500 teams. It’s almost too much for their coach.

“This team, they’ve lost that spark, and so that’s what’s missing, and people see it,” Jackson said, prophetically, before the game.

The Knicks (11-14) have been on a roller-coaster in Mike D’Antoni’s first season as coach, making two trades and enduring the Stephon Marbury saga. (The embattled guard, told by Knicks personnel to stay away from all team activities, sat courtside Tuesday in the corner diagonally opposite the Knicks bench, and was mobbed by a dozen reporters at halftime.)

Point guard Nate Robinson had 33 points in a reserve role for the Knicks.

The Lakers, meanwhile, turn to their own challenges.

To be continued, on the road.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com