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Lakers beat Nuggets, 99-91
Kobe Bryant scored the Lakers' first 14 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 42, carrying Los Angeles to a 99-91 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
Bryant recorded his third consecutive 40-point game for the Lakers, who won back-to-back games for the sixth time this season, but have yet to win three in a row under coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 27 points in his second game back since missing six with a sprained ankle. Kenyon Martin returned to the Denver lineup after missing Friday's game with a sore back and finished with 11 points in 28 minutes.
Lamar Odom had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, and Chris Mihm finished with 10 points and eight boards.
Bryant, who scored 42 and 48 points in his previous two games, had only 11 in the first half and blew a breakaway dunk in the second quarter. But he scored 17 points in the third, helping the Lakers build a 79-63 lead.
Martin, playing with five fouls, made a layup that capped an 11-2 Denver run and narrowed the gap to 81-74 with 7:47 to play. Bryant answered that with an eight-footer with 7:23 left — the Lakers' first basket of the fourth quarter. Los Angeles shot just 4-of-17 in the final period.
The game-breaker came with 1:47 left, a fast-break layup by Bryant after Caron Butler blocked Anthony's eight-foot jumper at the other end. Bryant added a 21-footer and two free throws to seal it. No other Laker scored in the fourth until the final 31.2 seconds, when Butler made four free throws and Chuck Atkins made two.
The Nuggets ended the first half with a 15-2 run, slicing a 15-point deficit to 44-42 as Bryant sat out the final 5:18 before the break with three fouls. Anthony missed his first five shots and nine of 12 in the half.
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