This 60 is over Lakers’ limit

It’s almost always Kobe Bryant when a player hits for 60, 70 or 81 points at Staples Center.

But Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas scored a franchise-record 60 points Sunday night, overshadowing Bryant’s 45-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist effort in the Wizards’ 147-141 overtime victory.

The Lakers hadn’t allowed a player to score as many points against them since Wilt Chamberlain had 65 in February 1966. Chamberlain had been the only other player to score 60 or more against the Lakers, doing it seven times in his career.

But Arenas added his name to a rarefied list, and showed that he has come a long way since his days as a local basketball standout at Van Nuys Grant High.

“It felt great because all my friends are Kobe fans,” said Arenas, who had a group of 75 friends and family members in attendance.

The game raised numerous concerns for the Lakers, almost too many to list.

Their defense, shaky at best even when Lamar Odom was healthy, was porous and gentle, allowing the Wizards to shoot 50.6%. Arenas made 17 of 32 shots.

Their three-point shooting was off the charts, setting a new team record with a whopping 44 attempts. (They made 19 for a respectable 43.3%.)

Their point-guard situation took another turn with Smush Parker benched for the fourth quarter and overtime.

Parker had nine points on four-for-14 shooting. Jordan Farmar had 13 points and four assists, and Sasha Vujacic, who played the entire overtime period, had six points.

Finally, they sustained another home loss to a team that had been .500 or worse coming to the game, stacking the Wizards next to Milwaukee and New Orleans in the last three weeks.

Now they hit the road for 20 of their next 28 games, beginning with a six-game trip that takes them to Chicago, Minnesota, New Jersey, Miami, Orlando and Charlotte, bringing them back in just enough time for a home game against Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve.

Between now and then, there will be work to do, especially at the defensive end, if the Lakers are to maintain early-season momentum.

Arenas also had eight rebounds and eight assists. The Lakers were irritated with the fact he had 27 free-throw attempts, making 21.

Bryant, who guarded him most of the time, was matter-of-fact, if not irreverent, in explaining it.

“You tip your hat and say, ‘See you next time,’ ” Bryant said. “First of all, he shot 27 free throws. We as a team shot 30. Think about that.

“But him individually, it’s funny. He doesn’t seem to have much of a conscience. I really don’t think he does. Some of the shots he took tonight, you miss those, and they’re just terrible shots. Awful. You make them and they’re unbelievable shots. I don’t get a chance to play him much, so I haven’t gotten used to that mentality of just chucking it up there. He made some big ones, but I’ll be ready next time.”

The Lakers almost pulled off a comeback comparable to their victory two nights earlier against Houston. In that game, they erased a 21-point deficit and won in two overtimes.

Sunday had a similar theme -- the deficit was 17 points this time -- and another possible escape going into overtime.

But the Wizards had 21 points in the five-minute overtime, Arenas scoring 16 and former Lakers forward Caron Butler scoring the other five.

Afterward, when all the points and records had been collected, sifted and announced, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson was asked if he ever considered taking Bryant off Arenas.

“Yes, we thought we’d take him off, but he wanted him and he thought that it was the best matchup out there, so I let him have his way,” Jackson said. “We thought that nobody else had really stepped in and found a way to defend him at all.”

Jackson was also irritated that the Wizards had twice as many free-throw attempts as the Lakers, making 47 of 60. The Lakers made 24 of 30.

“I think once we had to start fouling to get back into the game, the referees thought that we were just going to foul the rest of the game because I have never seen a disparity like that in a free-throw situation,” Jackson said. “Sometimes it just gets contagious and we just couldn’t get a stop on that.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

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KEYS TO THE GAME

* Gilbert Arenas scored a franchise-record 60 points, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only player to score 60 or more points against the Lakers.

* Caron Butler (27 points) and Antawn Jamison (25 points) were an effective two-three punch after Arenas.

* The Wizards doubled the Lakers’ free throws, making 47 of 60.

-- MIKE BRESNAHAN