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The Denver Nuggets just can't seem to keep their emotions or Kobe Bryant in check.

Bryant led a balanced offense with 22 points and the Los Angeles Lakers took a 3-0 lead in their first-round series, routing the flustered Nuggets 102-84 on Saturday.

Game 4 is Monday night, and the Nuggets are going to have to get more out of their All-Star duo of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson if they hope to take the series back to the Staples Center.

For once, the Nuggets clamped down on defense, but their high-flying offense went AWOL as Anthony and Iverson had their worst performance together since the two superstars first teamed up 16 months ago.

"I was getting to the basket, I just wasn't finishing," Iverson said. "And the same thing happened to 'Melo."

Anthony and A.I. shot a combined 10-for-38 and finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

No thanks to the Lakers, either, suggested coach Phil Jackson.

"I thought our defense packed it in on them, but they missed some easy shots," Jackson said. "I told the team at halftime, 'They're not going to shoot like this for the whole game. They missed some close shots, some shots they usually make. We'll have to play better defense in the second half.'

"But they never showed up. They never got it going."

Iverson sat out all but 1:11 of the fourth quarter, when Nuggets coach George Karl emptied his bench, prompting Anthony to accuse the team of quitting.

"In a game like tonight, on our home court, us giving up as a whole is uncalled for," Anthony fumed. "Yeah. We quit. Everybody. From the coaches to the players, we quit. And I said it.

"I'm not blaming anyone. I'm not pointing the fingers at nobody. I didn't play worth a (expletive) tonight, and I can accept that. But as a competitor, there's no way that I should lay down and quit and lay down on my team like we did tonight."

Anthony said the Nuggets surrendered in the third quarter, although Karl didn't empty his bench until the fourth quarter.

"You could just sense it," Anthony said. "I'm saying 'we,' because I'm part of this, too. I'm saying I quit. We all just gave up."

At least one teammate concurred.

"That's the way it seemed," Kenyon Martin said. "Everybody came out of the game. A.I. came out, and he leads the league in minutes. It's frustrating."

"Well, I don't think I quit," Karl retorted. "... In the fourth quarter, I tried to find some answers. ... I don't think that's a fair, I think 'Melo's emotional right now, he's frustrated right now, as we all are."

Bryant said he never sensed the Nuggets had given up until the very end.

"Well, they're down 20-something points with two minutes to go," Bryant said. "But not until that point."

Bryant had a placid first half himself (8 points of 3-of-8 shooting) but scored nine quick points in the third quarter to put the Lakers ahead 64-51 and quiet the Pepsi Center crowd that loves to hate him.

Bryant has always played well in Colorado, where fans have persistently heckled him ever since he was charged with sexual assault at a ski resort in the Rocky Mountains in 2003, even after the criminal case was dismissed and a civil suit settled.

Anthony drew a technical foul -- Denver's seventh in the series -- after he was stripped on his way to the basket, leading to a breakaway by Bryant that stretched the Lakers' lead to 78-61 with 2:33 left in the third.

Los Angeles took an 83-64 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back as Karl sent in the likes of Yakhouba Diawara, Chucky Atkins and Steven Hunter into the game.

Is that quitting? No way, said Eduardo Najera.

"We can point fingers but at the end of the day we missed shots. Tonight, we just missed a lot of layups, easy, wide-open shots," Najera said.

The Nuggets, who have lost seven straight playoff games, figured they could get to the rim and the foul line more than they had in the first two games in Los Angeles. They got to the rim all right, but the shots didn't fall and the whistles didn't sound.

By Karl's count, Anthony and Iverson were 1-for-20 on layups.

The Nuggets limped to the locker room trailing 53-46 at halftime with 'Melo and A.I. a combined 5-for-21, pretty much negating the boost they got from forward Linas Kleiza's start despite a hyper-extended elbow. He finished with 15 points and nine boards.

"Your spirits have to be broken somewhat if you're the home team after a game like today, but you don't make it to this level if you aren't resilient," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. "You always come back the next time feeling you can do the things better that you didn't do the time before."

Iverson had no answers on this night.

"I've been in a lot of playoff series," he said. "I don't think I've ever been this frustrated."

Neither has Anthony.

"In my five years here, this is the first time I've felt like this," Anthony said. "This one hurt. It hurt bad."

Notes: Luke Walton added 15 points off the bench for Los Angeles, and Pau Gasol and Fisher each scored 14. ... Lakers F Ronny Turiaf, who lost 11 pounds and missed Game 2 with tonsillitis, was scoreless in three minutes. ... Nuggets C Marcus Camby was held scoreless in a playoff game for the first time since 2000.

NBA Playoffs Schedule for 26.04.2008

Toronto Raptors - Orlando Magic. Orlando leads 2-1

Denver Nuggets - Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers leads 2-0

Atlanda Hawks - Boston Celtics. Boston leads 2-0

Utah Jazz - Houston Rockets. Jazz leads 2-1

The three NBA championships Kobe Bryant won during the early part of this decade filled him up, to be sure.

But now he says his appetite for a championship is greater than it has ever been, and more consuming than before he won.

"I'm a little hungrier now than I was the first time," Bryant said Friday, a serious tone in his voice.

All Bryant has done to feed this inner beast is average 40.5 points in his first two playoff games against Denver, the highest scoring average in these NBA playoffs.

He has made 50.9 percent of his field-goal attempts and guided the Lakers to a 2-0 lead over the Nuggets in the best-of-seven series that resumes today in Denver.

After he spoke up last summer and put pressure on the Lakers to improve, then saw how the team had grown and the potential it had, he put an equal amount of pressure on himself to make the most of the opportunity.

"It comes with the territory," Bryant said. "You can't be Superman and not deal with the pressure of dropping somebody when you go to rescue them."

Bryant was 21 when he won his first championship in 2000. He's 29 now and doesn't want to wait much longer.

"The first one, I was so young," he said. "Plus I was sharing that pressure with somebody else. Me and Diesel (Shaquille O'Neal) both had the pressure on us to kind of get it done -- he more so than I. Now the pressure is squarely on my shoulders to try and bring another championship here. It's something that I accept."

Bryant, who seems driven like few others in the game, sees his influence rubbing off on teammates.

"I don't expect them to have the same hunger that I do," he said. "It's not the same that I have, but they are driven enough to get it done. No question about it. They are all hungry."

The first task is getting by Denver. The Nuggets are up against it, knowing they can't fall into a 3-0 deficit, a hole no NBA team has climbed out of to win a series.

"We have to be a little more physical, or prepare for more contact or duress, I guess," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Play through things that will happen to you out there on the court -- the contact, and through fouls."

What about Jackson's hunger? He led Bryant to those three titles and returned in 2005 to lead the Lakers back to the mountaintop.

He hasn't won an NBA title since 2002, so many wonder if Jackson has that same hunger as Bryant.

"Well, I haven't had breakfast since 8:30. I'm very hungry right now," Jackson joked. "I had to come out here to talk to you guys and it's past my lunchtime. So yes, I am hungry. But I just want to win the series."

Jackson, tied with Celtics legend Red Auerbach for most NBA titles as a coach with nine, was asked if he is hungry to pass his one-time nemesis.

"I'll see you guys later," Jackson said and walked away, a smile on his face.

Turiaf Hopes to Play

Ronny Turiaf, who missed Game 2 with tonsillitis, practiced some Friday and said he hopes to play today in Game 3.

"I'm actually eating and drinking today," said Turiaf, who said he lost 11 pounds in the past week. "I might be tired when I play but I think I can help."

Reach Broderick Turner

The Denver Nuggets couldn't defend Pau Gasol in Game 1 or Kobe Bryant in Game 2.

So, what makes them think they can turn things around in their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers?

"We're home, man," Allen Iverson said. "They got a chance to play in front of their home crowd, and we want that same type of advantage playing in front of ours."

The homecourt is about the only thing the Nuggets have successfully defended all season.

They rode the energy of the Pepsi Center to a 33-8 record, including a series of clutch must-win triumphs over the final six weeks that allowed them to reach the playoffs for the fifth straight season.

"It's our turn to hold serve," Nuggets coach George Karl said Thursday. "It's a great challenge, a lot of fun. The homecourt's been kind of our biggest ally all year long."

Game 3 is Saturday and Game 4 is Monday night.

The Nuggets looked haggard as they filtered out of film study Thursday, most of them not wanting to stop and talk about being in a 2-0 hole after allowing a staggering 250 points so far.

"I think it might just be a travel day of getting to bed at 4:30 in the morning," Karl said. "There's a heaviness to waiting sometimes. We'll have a good practice tomorrow. I thought we got a little bit better last night. We didn't get better enough to win the game, but we got a little bit better."

The Nuggets hung with the Lakers until the fourth quarter after watching Gasol tear them up for 36 points in a 128-114 loss in Game 1. But Bryant scored 19 points in a 4:19 stretch of the fourth quarter, leading L.A. to a 122-107 win Wednesday night.

The Nuggets, however, insist they'll show up Saturday with a swagger and not a stagger.

"My sense is all year long when this team had its true back to the wall, they've responded great and the homecourt's been a big part of that," Karl said. "I think there's an energy out there. Statistically there's all sorts of positives that come our way here. We play better defence here. We make people miss more shots here. ..."

And all those clutch wins late in the season give the Nuggets plenty of confidence they can come back on L.A.

"Well, to us they were pretty much like playoff games," Marcus Camby said. "Going down that stretch, especially, late March and all of April, were all must-wins. So, we pretty much know how to perform under pressure."

The Nuggets ranked next-to-last in the NBA by allowing 107 points a game in the regular season despite leading the league in both blocks (6.72) and steals (9.17). So, it's not surprising the Lakers have piled up 250 points.

"It's a high-paced game," Gasol said. "They keep it real fast, an up-and-down game. You take advantage of what they give you."

Opponents haven't had as much success against the Nuggets in Denver, and Bryant said it's imperative for the Lakers to duplicate their energy, execution and emotion on the road to change that.

"Not getting too high, not getting too low. Even keel, keeping our poise," Bryant said. "They're a great home team. I think altitude is a factor the first few minutes. They play with a lot of energy.

"I think we're doing OK, we're playing typical playoff basketball. That being said, we haven't put together four explosive quarters that I think we're capable of. The important thing is getting the Ws."

Lakers point guard Derek Fisher isn't expecting any surprises from the Nuggets in Game 3, either.

"I don't think you're going to see wholesale changes. They believe in their style of play," Fisher said. "Defensively, I think they'll play even more zone than we saw last night. I don't expect them to do too many things differently than they've done so far. I just expect them to do them better on their home court."

So do the Nuggets.

"We still feel good about ourselves," Linas Kleiza said. "We've got to do what we're supposed to do, and that's defend our homecourt. We've been good all year at our home, so it should be exciting if we do that and the series is back where it started."

Notes: Ronny Turiaf, who missed Game 2 with tonsillitis, is expected to make the trip to Denver on Friday. ... Karl on his son, Coby, playing against the Nuggets in Game 2: "It's a proud moment for the family that is to be cherished and celebrated. But it will not be done in the next two weeks."

Games like this are why you can't trust box scores. You could look at the numbers, see that Kobe Bryant scored 49 points, and think you had the story of the Lakers' 122-107 victory over the Nuggets in Game 2 of this opening round playoff series. You'd have no idea that Bryant and the Lakers were at their best during a five-minute stretch at the end of the third quarter when Kobe made only one shot.

That's when he took over the game in a manner reminiscent of a guy sitting in the baseline seats at Staples Center: Magic Johnson.
The score was tied when Bryant found Luke Walton for a layup and a foul. The next time down the court, Bryant fed Vladimir Radmanovic for a dunk. Three possessions later he threw the ball to Walton for a 3-pointer. All that giving brought him a gift in return, when Pau Gasol tossed an alley-oop that Bryant appeared to stop in mid-air before throwing it down. And Bryant closed out the quarter with a pass to Sasha Vujacic for another 3-pointer. Four of Bryant's 10 assists in that little stretch.

A 10-point advantage for the Lakers heading into the fourth quarter. Kobe's quarter.

"It's just about forcing them to make choices," Bryant said. "I knew in the third quarter they were going to try to zero in on me a little bit, try to Ttake me out of my groove.

"We're very used to those types of defenses. So my teammates are used to making cuts and taking advantage of it. I felt like it kind of softened them up for me to go back at it in the fourth."

A bunch of Walton and Vujacic body blows before Bryant could unleash the haymakers. The game's greatest closer put this one away with a flourish exceptional even by his standards, scoring 19 points in less than 4 ½ minutes.

After Bryant hit a 3-pointer to give him 46 points and put the Lakers up by 17 with 2 ½ minutes remaining, he took advantage of a pause while Carmelo Anthony shot free throws. Bryant walked by Marv Albert and Reggie Miller in the sideline announcer seats, pulled out his imaginary six-shooters and blew them off.

Nuggets guard J.R. Smith made the mistake of saying something to him, which only brought more pain. Bryant went at Smith the next time down the court, got a layup and-one to get to 49 points, one shy of the playoff career high he set against Phoenix in 2006.

"Better learn not to talk to me," Bryant said of Smith's jabbering. "You shake the tree, a leopard's gonna fall out."

The Nuggets shouldn't say anything to anyone right now. They picked up two more technical fouls in the fourth quarter, the first at a time when the Laker lead was still in single digits.

"As a team, I think we lost our focus, lost our composure," Carmelo Anthony said.

Sometimes it seems as if the Nuggets don't care if they win the series. In the second quarter George Karl sat Allen Iverson for what seemed as long as an afternoon at the DMV (in reality it was four minutes and 15 seconds). And even though Lakers backup big man Ronny Turiaf sat out with a sore throat, the Nuggets didn't make a point of attacking the Laker frontcourt players to get them in foul trouble.

Instead it was Denver's Kenyon Martin who fouled out halfway through the fourth quarter.

The Lakers know their way to win, and it requires getting everyone involved through the first three quarters. In the first quarter, Bryant had 20 points but the Lakers only had a one-point lead to show for it.

"Defensively, we couldn't find the combination of what to do," Phil Jackson said. "We were just a step behind defensively, they were attacking with a lot of confidence."

It wasn't that Bryant dominated the ball. He got transition baskets. He scored when the defense rotated away from him. One time a loose ball bounced his way, he gathered it up, didn't see anyone around and he calmly shot a 3-pointer.

And when a guy's shooting 60 percent, common sense dictates he should be taking all the shots. But that's not what got the Lakers to the top of the Western Conference this year. This was the season when a three-point drop in his scoring average coincided with a 15-win increase in the standings.

"You definitely play better when you're touching the ball and you're involved," said Walton, who had another big playoff performance with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. "Basketball is so much of a rhythm game and just being in the flow, not even realizing what's going on. When you're involved and touching the ball and making passes and making plays, it makes you involved in defense. You can read the court better, you can do all of the little things. It definitely helps."

Those were the Lakers of the third quarter, much more similar to the way they played this season.

Now the Nuggets need to make more adjustments. They went with Martin on Bryant again, but replaced Anthony Carter with Linas Kleiza in the starting lineup to avoid the size mismatches that allowed Pau Gasol to score 36 points in the first game. They tried zone defense. They put Smith on Bryant. None of it worked.

"The way he was going we could have put 10 people on the court and it probably wouldn't have been able to stop him," Allen Iverson said.

It's not about throwing everyone at Bryant. It's the way he has used every player on his team that's made the Lakers more of a threat this year, and certainly a class above the Nuggets in the first two games of this series.

J.A. Adande joined ESPN.com as an NBA columnist in August 2007 after 10 years with the Los Angeles Times. Click here to e-mail J.A.

The Nuggets could not have even hoped to contain Kobe Bryant in Game 2.

Bryant led all scorers with 49 points to go with 10 assists as the Lakers prevailed 122-107 at STAPLES Center on Wednesday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Pau Gasol added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Luke Walton scored 18 off the bench for Los Angeles. But it was Kobe's show as he went 18-of-27 from the floor and finished one point off his career playoff high. He scored 20 points in an electric first quarter and 25 in the half as the Lakers went into the lockerroom with a 10-point lead.

Bryant was replaced by Coby Karl, the son of Denver coach George Karl. It was the first time in NBA playoff history that a father has coached against his son.

The Nuggets played much better in the second half as Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for 17 points in the third quarter. Iverson led Denver with 31 points and Anthony added 23.

Down 11 with 10:39 to play, Denver went on an 8-2 run to pull within five on J.R. Smith's 3-pointer with 10:25 to play. The Nuggets got within five again on Anthony's layup with 7:16 remaining, but Bryant heled trigger a 13-2 Lakers run with under seven minutes to play to help put the game out of reach.

Bryant scored 19 of the Lakers' final 24 points in the game.

The teams will square off again on in Game 3 on Saturday at 5:30 ET ON TNT.

Karl admitted before the game Sunday he’d prefer facing No. 2 seed New Orleans rather than the No. 1 Lakers in the first round. "I’m not going to deny we were rooting to play New Orleans," he said. "We wanted to play the more inexperienced team." About the Lakers last summer, Karl later said, "I was hoping they would trade Kobe." [Rocky Mountain News]

It feels blasphemous to even think it, much less say it aloud, but these Lakers, Kobe and Pau's Lakers that is, just might end up being better than Kobe and Shaq's dysfunctional, but brilliant bunches of the early 2000s.

It's still very, very early. And this Denver Nuggets team the Lakers easily dispatched 128-114 Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series seemed like it could implode at any moment.

But every time you watch Gasol play, and the way the Lakers play with him, and the way Kobe plays with him, when it all really gets rolling, and especially when the other team doesn't bother to play much defense, you can't help but think it.

These Lakers, Kobe and Pau's Lakers, could end up being better than any of those Diesel-powered teams.

"Pau is a great, great basketball player and this is the perfect offense for him," said Lakers forward Luke Walton, who is one of just three Lakers who played with both O'Neal and Gasol.

"When we get everyone involved, and (Pau) is in the middle, finishing plays and making passes, we are a very tough team to beat."

The triangle offense, in simplistic terms, is designed to create spacing, open passing lanes, and easy jump shots. Gasol excels at all three of these skills, which is exactly why the Lakers have wanted to trade for him for the past two years.

Sunday afternoon, Gasol had his best game as a Laker, dropping 36 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and most importantly, dishing out eight assists.

"I think this offense has freed him up a little bit and showcased more of what he can do instead of being in the post all the time," Bryant said of the Lakers Spanish acquisition.

The Lakers, during the Shaq-Kobe era, ran the triangle offense, but like they are now. During the 2004 NBA Finals, their last dance before that dynasty fell, the triangle was so ineffective the Lakers dumbed it down, then largely abandoned it.

But now with Gasol in the middle, it looks elegant. Simple even.

Sunday, he had the Denver Nuggets chasing the ball around the court, franticly trying to catch up. By the end, they were so frustrated, Allen Iverson blew up at a referee and got himself ejected, Anthony Carter was slamming Bryant into the basket support and Kenyon Martin was jawing with him during breaks in the action.

They tried to make adjustments. Coach George Karl called some zone defenses, tried the 6-foot-9 Martin on the 6-foot-6 Bryant, then the ultra-quick J.R. Smith on him. But nothing worked.

The Lakers were just too good. Too fast, too smooth, to smart.

After the game, Karl came into the interview room looking ragged. He wore a simple, team issued long-sleeve t-shirt, then, half-heartedly tried to claim this was just one game.

"I don't think anybody in our lockeroom is deflated," he said, not seeming entirely convinced of his own words. "I think it's good we have two days to put some pieces together and study the film."

In other words, figure out just how and why and what the Lakers did to beat them so easily.

"I don't think it was Gasol," Karl said. "I think the film will show the L.A. Lakers tore us up," Karl said. "I think Coby Karl could've scored the baskets."

The other thing, and it's a big thing actually, is that Kobe and Pau's Lakers actually seem to dig each other. Their elegant, team-oriented, ball-sharing approach on the court has created a happy lockeroom.

Players on the bench cheer for those in the game, spend half their post-game interviews lauding the play of their teammates and celebrating their shared achievements.

Gasol has the perfect temperament for this club. He's happy to be Kobe's running mate and let Bryant hear the M-V-P chants.

And with Odom, who was actually being criticized last year for not being selfish enough, as the No. 3 option, a rather harmonious pecking order has been created.

"We're actually a very close team," Odom said. "This is a team where one day on the plane, I might have a conversation with Ira Newble, the next day might be Sasha, the next day might be Pau. We try not to get segregated at all."

The Lakers of the Shaq-Kobe years were anything but. In fact, they were defined so entirely by their discord you wondered if they began to need the "creative tension" in order to rev the engines up.

Phil Jackson had to be in full Zen-master mode just to keep things to a war of snippy words and glowering looks.

To some extent, Bryant still needs that dynamic to get himself into rhythm and his competitive fire lit. But now that energy is directed outward, at opponents, at referees - he led the league in technical fouls after all - and even the occasional slight by the media.

Sunday, Bryant began the game in a woeful shooting slump, missing nine of the first 10 shots he took. At first, he tried to stay poised to correct the problem. But then he looked up and was still just 5 for 20 from the floor.

It wasn't until Carter slammed him into the basketball support midway through the third quarter that Bryant found his touch. And from there, he proceeded to jaw with Martin loud enough to draw a technical foul during an exchange at the free-throw line late in the third.

"Just a healthy conversation," Bryant joked, when asked what he and Martin were talking about.

And about whether the chippyness of Sunday's second half would color the rest of the series with angry subplots, Bryant said:

"Hopefully," he said with a laugh, then turned serious.

"It's playoff basketball, this is when the game is most fun. Guys want to win and they're going to commit hard fouls, play physical, talk a little trash. "

After chasing the Lakers around Sunday afternoon, that's all the Nuggets had left. They got frustrated, lost their cool and all but threw their hands up by the end.

These Lakers are really good.

It's early, so don't say it too loudly just yet, but they might end up being great.

Pau Gasol finally discovered how it feels to be on the winning side in a postseason game. The 7-foot Spaniard had a whole lot to do with his first victory.


Gasol established playoff highs with 36 points and eight assists and had 16 rebounds as well Sunday as the Los Angeles Lakers took command early in the third quarter and beat the Denver Nuggets 128-114.

Gasol, a 27-year-old forward/center acquired from Memphis on Feb. 1 after spending 6 1/2 seasons with the Grizzlies, was 0-12 in three previous postseasons.

Kobe Bryant scored 18 of his 32 points in the final 8 minutes to keep Los Angeles safely ahead. Lamar Odom had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and Luke Walton added 16 points for the Lakers, who entered having won eight of their last nine regular-season games to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Game 2 will be played Wednesday night at Staples Center before the best-of-seven series shifts to Denver for the third and fourth games.

Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the eighth-seeded Nuggets. Allen Iverson also had 30 points before picking up two technical fouls with 2:10 remaining, calling for immediate ejection. Linas Kleiza scored a career playoff high 23 points and J.R. Smith added 15 before fouling out with 3:14 left.

The Nuggets should have it known wasn't going to be their day when several players were stranded on the Santa Monica Freeway for about a half-hour when the team bus broke down on the way to the game.

The bus left the team's hotel about 2 1/2 hours before tipoff as scheduled, but experienced problems about 15 minutes into the trip, spokesman Eric Sebastian said.

"There was a pop, black smoke, there was another pop, more black smoke," Sebastian said. "We rushed off the bus. We were standing on the side of the road."

The Nuggets' second bus, which left the team hotel about 30 minutes after the first one, stopped to pick up their teammates. The entire team made the rest of the trip to the arena, arriving about 90 minutes before game-time.

Denver had a 50-32 regular-season record, its best in 20 years. The Nuggets haven't won a playoff series since 1994, when as the eighth-seed, they upset the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics, coached by current Denver coach George Karl.

The Lakers led 97-78 entering the fourth quarter, but an 11-2 run by Denver made it 101-91 with 8:17 remaining. The Nuggets drew within nine twice down the stretch, but Bryant wouldn't allow them to get any closer.

Gasol had eight points and Bryant added five during a 15-4 spurt to start the third quarter, giving the Lakers a 73-60 lead. Gasol added six more points during a 14-5 run to finish the period.

Denver isn't known for its defense, finishing next-to-last in points allowed during the regular season, and it showed as the Lakers shot 10-of-16 to begin the game for a 21-11 lead.

It was 26-16 when the Lakers suddenly cooled off and Nuggets got hot. The result was a 25-7 run that put Denver on top 41-33. Kleiza and Smith combined to score Denver's first 20 points of the second quarter, getting 10 each. Then, with Gasol and Walton leading the way, the Lakers outscored the Nuggets 18-9 to finish the period for a 58-56 halftime lead.

Many in the partisan crowd chanted: "DUI! DUI!" late in the opening period as Anthony shot two free throws — a reference to his arrest last week.

Notes:@ Smith picked up a flagrant foul in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, throwing Walton to the floor. ... The Lakers were 3-0 against the Nuggets during the regular season, winning by an average of 16.3 points per game. It was more of the same Sunday. ... The Lakers haven't won a playoff series since 2004, when Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led them to the NBA finals, where they lost to Detroit in five games. O'Neal was traded to Miami shortly thereafter. ... The Nuggets have been eliminated 4-1 in the first round of the postseason in each of the last four years after failing to make the playoffs for eight straight years. ... The teams are meeting in the playoffs for the first time since Los Angeles swept Denver 3-0 in the first round 21 years ago. The Lakers also eliminated the Nuggets 2-1 in a Western Conference mini-series in 1979 and 4-1 in the conference finals in 1985.

Pau Gasol finally discovered how it feels to be on the winning side in a postseason game. The 7-foot Spaniard had a whole lot to do with his first victory.


Gasol established playoff highs with 36 points and eight assists and had 16 rebounds as well Sunday as the Los Angeles Lakers took command early in the third quarter and beat the Denver Nuggets 128-114.

Gasol, a 27-year-old forward/center acquired from Memphis on Feb. 1 after spending 6 1/2 seasons with the Grizzlies, was 0-12 in three previous postseasons.

Several Denver Nuggets players were stranded on the highway for about a half hour Sunday when the team bus broke down on the way to Staples Center for a playoff opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.


The bus left the team's hotel about 2 1/2 hours before tipoff as scheduled, but experienced problems about 15 minutes into the trip, club spokesman Eric Sebastian said. Players and staff had to wait on the Santa Monica Freeway.

"There was a pop, black smoke, there was another pop, more black smoke," Sebastian said. "We rushed off the bus. We were standing on the side of the road."

The Nuggets' second bus, which left the team hotel about 30 minutes after the first one, stopped to pick up their teammates. The entire team made the rest of the trip to the arena, arriving about 90 minutes before game-time.

"It was a good bonding experience," Sebastian said with a smile.

Rookie guard Taurean Green was on the first bus.

"It wasn't scary; it was just a little frustrating," he said. "All we could do is stand around. You don't want to start off the first series being delayed to the arena."

Nuggets coach George Karl was on the second bus. When told what happened, his response was: "Go pick 'em up."

"It was fine," he added. "It was a little pressure relief — laugh a little bit."

Denver Nuggets looks towards winning the Lakers Game

They embody the NBA's fusion of hip-hop and pick and roll, oozing of swagger, boasting of athleticism and as the unofficial titleholders of the team with the most body art.

These Denver Nuggets are star-studded and expensive, carrying one of the league's highest payrolls.

They scratched and clawed their way to the playoffs, finally curling their fingers around the Western Conference's eighth spot and earning a first-round matchup against the Lakers.

And for Denver, as with most playoff teams, there is praise and promise, scattered somewhere along with concern and compatibility.

TNT's Charles Barkley recently labeled Denver talented but also as "the most disappointing team in the league."

And the fallout from Carmelo Anthony's arrest this week on suspicion of drunk driving is yet to be ascertained.

"I think our team has to worry a little bit more about ourselves than most playoff teams," Nuggets Coach George Karl told reporters in Denver on Friday. "If we turn the light switch on and [keep] it on, we'll be fine. Sometimes it's a dimmer. I'm sure there's some sports psychologist out there who can figure it out."

It doesn't take one to figure out that something went right. It went right to the tune of 50 wins in Denver, the first time the Nuggets reached that mark since the 1987-88 season.

Largely because they can score.

The names alone of Anthony (25.7 points a game) and guard Allen Iverson (26.4 points) are enough to give an opposing coach insomnia.

They are major factors why the Nuggets won 10 regular-season games by 20 points or more.

The play of Denver's reserves -- outside threats J.R. Smith, who averaged 15.5 points in March and April, and Linas Kleiza -- will also be critical if the Nuggets are to win the series.

The Nuggets' problem is they like scoring so much, they let other teams do it at will too. Denver lost seven games by 20 points or more.

Their defense is largely centered on Marcus Camby, the league's reigning defensive player of the year, who patrols the paint and is assisted every once in a while by forward Kenyon Martin.

The team is rounded out by others who went through the regular season feigning as much interest in defense as a weekend hoopster playing at a local gym.

The Nuggets rise and fall with a risk-and-reward defense. Often Denver goes for steals and the chance at a fastbreak if it is there and often if it is not. "They probably have more talent than anyone in the NBA," Barkley said. "If they just tried to play defense, they could be scary."

Former Laker Michael Cooper, who coached the Nuggets for 14 games before Karl took over, said the Nuggets have an added dimension.

Playing in a high-altitude city, the Nuggets look to run their opponents until the other team's knees wobble. "And when they come to sea level, they try to turn it up even more," Cooper said.

But they also have the added baggage of Anthony's situation.

Compared to other stars in his draft class, including LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Anthony seems to have had the hardest time assimilating into the corporate components of the game.

Anthony apologized for his latest arrest, but he has been in several high-profile incidents since entering the NBA in 2003. He consented to a blood test in the DUI case, but the results won't be available for several days. His first court appearance is scheduled for May 14.

"Carmelo has had his off-the-court clashes in the past, but once you walk into that gym you leave everything behind you," Cooper said, before adding a small jab. "They take a bus to the gym, so it shouldn't affect him."

Instead, Cooper said, Anthony probably will be more affected by sharing the court with Iverson.

Both are scorers who thrive on one-on-one play. But because Iverson has the ball in his hands as a guard, he is able to more often create shots for himself.

"When I coached [Anthony], he was the go-to guy," Cooper said. "He's not that now. He's a second option. . . . If he's not the first option, he's a little more selfish and he's going to look to his shot and look to score. [Iverson] can come and take three or four shots and then [Anthony] is going to be looking for the next one even if it could be a bad shot."

Anthony was remorseful when he issued his apology, and at Friday's practice he appeared relaxed and focused in front of Denver reporters.

He is unflinching in his belief that the Nuggets can pull off an upset in his bid to get past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in his career.

"We're confident," he said. "We're the underdog right now. I love being in this situation."