The Lakers may be the only game in town that can put trade talk of any kind on the back burner.
It’s a Pepsi Center littered with yellow jerseys and the pro-Lakers voices to match. It’s a group of Nuggets fans who cheer against this opponent in a way they simply don’t against any other.
Lakers-Nuggets on Friday night brought out arguably the most energized Pepsi Center crowd of the season. That environment brought out one of the more inspired Nuggets performances of the season. At the start.
It turned out to be not nearly enough as the Lakers ran away for a 107-97 victory.
In winning five of the previous six regular-season matchups against the Lakers — including a 118-112 decision at the Pepsi Center on Nov. 11 — the Nuggets had been able to successfully counteract the Lakers’ size with their speed.
Not Friday.
The Lakers trio of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Led by Gasol’s 19 points and 13 rebounds, the three combined for 54 points on 24-of-39 shooting and added 30 rebounds. The Lakers outscored the Nuggets 58-48 in the paint and outrebounded Denver 47-27.
“I think they went inside a lot more,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “They just powered it in on us. One quarter it was Gasol, one quarter it was Bynum, one quarter it was (Kobe) Bryant. It seemed like it wasn’t one guy.”
And yet, for a half, the Nuggets persevered.
Arron Afflalo was spectacular. With the rest of the Nuggets struggling to find an offensive touch, Afflalo was right on the mark, hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers for 16 first-half points. That not only kept the Nuggets afloat but allowed Denver to take a 52-49 halftime lead and have a chance to regroup for the second half.
One of those players needing to reboot at the half was Carmelo Anthony. He endured a frigid 4-of-13 start from the field, though he did contribute significantly with four rebounds and four assists.
And Bryant was not busy shooting the ball at all. The Los Angeles star took just four shots and had just four points in the first half before turning it up in the second.
Bryant assumed control of matters in the third, dominating in every way possible while scoring 14 points. He then let the Lakers pound the Nuggets into submission in the fourth.
“You could tell that he was being aggressive at the start of the half,” Billups said of the Lakers guard. “He made some shots. I thought whoever was guarding him was playing good “D,” it was just tough shots. It’s kind of what great players do.”
Bryant let the Lakers simply pound the Nuggets into submission in the fourth.
Bynum and Odom took over, and Nuggets center Nene was so frustrated he took his anger out in the form of a hard foul on Bynum with just less than six minutes remaining. The two went eye-to-eye and were separated with no technical fouls given, but Anthony picked up that slack when he was slapped with a technical foul late in the fourth quarter for arguing.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Rockies Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Giambi were in attendance, as well as former Rockie Vinny Castilla. . . . The Nuggets took 21 3-point shots against the Lakers. . . . Ron Artest’s 19 points were a season-high for him.
Final thought
The Lakers bigs were the difference against the too-small Nuggets
Up next
vs. Indiana, Sunday, 6 p.m.
