Interesting day, Monday, on the Los Angeles pro sports scene.

—Kobe Bryant sets a Madison Square Garden record by scoring 61 in the Lakers’ victory over the Knicks.

—Manny Ramirez turns down the Dodgers and GM Ned Colletti and their offer of $25 million for one season.

Turning point days, for the area’s most popular sports teams?

Maybe so. And not for the good.

Start with Kobe and his eruption in New York. The man was making a statement. And the nub of it was this: “Yeah, Andrew Bynum is out again, but I’m still KB24, and I can come up huge when I have to and this team can thrive without its center.”

No one had scored 61 at MSG. Not Earl Monroe, not Walt Frazier, not Bernard King or Patrick Ewing. No visitor,  either. Not Larry Bird or Michael Jordan.

It was impressive. It was a demonstration of Bryant’s considerable will.

But we will get a better idea of what the Lakers are about, without Bynum, the 21-year-old center (out perhaps the rest of the regular season with a knee injury), on the rest of this trip.

To wit: When the Lakers play at Toronto on Wednesday at Boston on Thursday and Cleveland on Sunday.

Unless Kobe is ready to expend an extraordinary amount of energy over the next five days, the Lakers are going to lose some of those games. Almost certainly the games at Boston and Cleveland. They could lose all three.

Without Bynum, the Lakers essentially are now the same team that won the Western Conference a year ago — and that team wasn’t quite tough enough to beat the East’s best. Boston a year ago,  Boston or Cleveland or even Orlando, this year.

Pau Gasol goes back to center, and he’s not really a center. Lamar Odom returns to the starting lineup at the 4 spot, and Lamar tends to play smaller the bigger the game is. Remember the NBA Finals?

The wild card here is Trevor Ariza, who gives the Lakers more athleticism and size than they did a year ago, when he was hurt down the stretch. If Ariza can make a difference, the Lakers perhaps have a chance at a championship. Otherwise, they’re not going to make it.

Kobe Bryant is ready to make a push. But will he get enough help? We will get some indication of what to expect when they play these three road games in four days.

Then, the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have done almost nothing since they went out of the playoffs. Derek Lowe and Brad Penny left via free agency. Takashi Saito did not sign. Jeff Kent retired. And there went40 percent of their starting rotation, their closer and their middle-of-the-lineup second baseman.

Now, we know the economics are weird this winter, and teams are waiting and waiting and being careful with their money (except the Yankees, of course), delaying big decisions later than usual … but the Dodgers are playing the ultimate game of “chicken.”

First, they offered Manny two years at $45 million, which he turned down.

On Monday they offered $25 mill for one season. And Manny apparently has turned down that, too.

How do we assess this?

The Dodgers need to get Manny signed — or give up on the idea — before they can move ahead. Before they know how much money they will have to spend on a non-Manny team — or how much left to spend on putting people around him.

Manny converted me with his huge run down the stretch, a year ago. But he is flaky, and a long contract is a bad idea. The two-year deal sounded about right. But when he turned it down, months ago, it made me wonder why the Dodgers bothered with a one-year deal — since he didn’t like that two-year deal.

The Dodgers seem to counting on the rest of baseball not offering that kind of money. Which is gamble. They might be right. But they could end up driving him to, say, San Francisco.

The Dodgers and their GM need some sort of resolution here. So they can go out and find some pitchers. And somebody who can play left field who is neither Manny Ramirez nor Juan Pierre — still under contract.

The Lakers and Dodgers figure to be the two best pro sports stories for the next few months. Fascinating, even. Not that I think it’s going to turn out very well for either team.