LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 29 points in the third quarter before sitting out the fourth, Andrew Bynum had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 104-90 on Friday night.
The defending Western Conference champion Lakers (10-1) are off to their best start through 11 games since the 2001-02 championship season, when they won 16 of their first 17. All of their victories have been decided by seven or more points — which was their winning margin against four teams.
Nene led the way for Denver with 18 points. Chauncey Billups made his first three shots, but was 3-for-9 the rest of the way and finished with 15 points and nine assists before going to the bench with 10:39 remaining.
Billups, a three-time All-Star, is averaging 18.3 points and 6.2 assists in nine games since the Nuggets reacquired him from Detroit in a trade that sent Allen Iverson to the Pistons.
Carmelo Anthony, the runner-up to Bryant for the league scoring title in 2006-07, had 10 points on 5-for-19 shooting and is averaging just 16.3 points over his last six games. The six-year veteran has scored 30 or more points 57 times since the start of the 06-07 season, the third-highest total during that stretch behind LeBron James (77) and Bryant (75).
The Lakers never trailed in the opener of a five-game homestand, making 14 of 21 shots in the first quarter and bolting to a 35-20 lead.
Anthony had a miserable first half, shooting 4-for-13 and committing three turnovers in a 2:47 span. The Lakers used a 20-6 run to increase a 13-point lead to 59-32 with 4:26 left in the second quarter.
Bynum helped ignite the rally with a pair of dunks 35 seconds apart, one of them off an alley-oop lob from Sasha Vujacic. Pau Gasol capped the run with a dunk after reserve Josh Powell blocked a shot by Kenyon Martin at the other end.
The Nuggets had one brief competitive stretch at the start of the third quarter, slicing a 20-point halftime deficit to 71-60 with a 13-4 run capped by Dahntay Jones’ layup with 6:53 left in the period.
But the Lakers responded with a 14-2 surge capped by Bryant’s 17-foot running jumper with 2:18 left in the quarter. Denver got no closer than 14 points on a 3-pointer by J.R. Smith with 4:40 to play.
Bryant, who won back-to-back scoring titles immediately preceding last season’s MVP campaign, sat out the fourth quarter after playing 29 minutes. The only time he has reached the 30-point mark this season was Nov. 1 at Denver, when he had 33 to help beat the Nuggets 104-97 in their final game with Iverson.
The Nuggets have lost nine straight meetings with the Lakers, who swept them in the first round of the playoffs, and have lost 16 of 18 regular-season games at Staples Center since the building opened nine years ago.
Notes: Bryant shot a 30-foot airball with 1:41 left in the third quarter and the Lakers leading 85-63. … Billups was MVP of the Finals in 2004 against the Lakers, averaging 21 points while Detroit won the series in five games. … The Nuggets are 7-2 with Billups in the lineup, and the Pistons are the only team that has beaten the Lakers. … No Denver player has scored 30 or more points through the team’s first 13 games. It’s the team’s longest such streak at the start of a season since 2002-03, when they went 27 games before Juwan Howard had 30 against the Clippers in Los Angeles. … This was the Nuggets’ first game this season that was decided by more than 11 points. … The Lakers came in third in the league with 104.9 points per game, and third in opponent scoring average at 91.4. … The Nuggets remained tied with Utah for the Northwest Division lead after the Jazz lost at San Antonio. … Three Lakers franchise records have come at Denver’s expense. They had 51 assists against them on Feb. 23, 1982, 69 field goals made on April 9, 1982, and most free throws in a game without a miss — going 27-for-27 on Jan. 30, 1992.
