Lakers Pull Off Comeback Against Nuggets

Tough, physical game in Los Angeles as L.A. Lakers battled past Denver Nuggets for a 95—89 win.
Lakers Pull Off Comeback Against Nuggets
Sixth man Lamar Odom's nine points in the fourth quarter were key in the Lakers win against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
2/28/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/Odom.jpg" alt="Sixth man Lamar Odom's nine points in the fourth quarter were key in the Lakers win against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)" title="Sixth man Lamar Odom's nine points in the fourth quarter were key in the Lakers win against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1822586"/></a>
Sixth man Lamar Odom's nine points in the fourth quarter were key in the Lakers win against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
It was a tough, physical game in Los Angeles on Sunday as the Western Conference leading L.A. Lakers (45–15) battled past the West’s No. 2 team the Denver Nuggets (39–20) for a 95–89 win.

Sixth man Lamar Odom led the Lakers with 20 points in a fourth-quarter attack after his team was down for three quarters. Ron Artest and Pau Gasol came up big with 17 and 15 points respectively.

Carmelo Anthony carried the Nuggets with 21 points, and starters Chauncey Billups, Arron Afflalo, and Nene Hilario all contributed double-digit scoring.

The win was important for the Lakers to show that they could step up against their 2009 rival. The Lakers had defeated Denver in last year’s Western Conference finals but fell to them twice this season by more than 10 points.

A third straight loss to the Nuggets—and at home—would have likely dented the team’s confidence against the team come playoff time.

Denver’s top priority was to shut down Lakers superstar Kobe Byrant. To that end they succeeded, keeping him to a paltry four points in the first half and 14 for the night. Kobe went 3–17 from the field.

“Our whole thing with Kobe was to try to plug him and keep him away from the rim and off the free throw line. We got that done pretty much the whole game,” Nuggets coach George Karl said in the post-game press conference.

Kobe was clearly frustrated with the amount of pressure he faced and with the referees going light on the number of fouls called on him. Bryant managed to make the best of his trips to the free throw line going 8–8.

The Nuggets dominated the first half with Hilario and Anthony lighting it up for a 52–43 lead. The Lakers’ lackluster performance included a sloppy 13 turnovers. The crowd could be heard booing their home team on several occasions.

The second half was a different story. With the Lakers’ offense starting to connect in the third quarter and the defense stepping it up to force 12 Nuggets turnovers, the crowd got behind their team and the momentum shifted.

“They slowed our offense down,” coach Karl said. “They picked up the pressure on us in the second half and we didn’t have the perseverance to pass the ball or penetrate before the pressure came.”

Odom hit a tough bank shot with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter to give the Lakers their first lead of the game since the early going. The Lakers then took a six-point lead forcing a Denver time out.

With the Lakers up by four points with two minutes to go, Nuggets star Anthony had a questionable offensive foul called against him that put him over the limit and sent him packing.

Denver had three shot opportunities on their next possession but couldn’t put the ball in, and went dry in the final minute to give the Lakers a great come-from-behind win at home.

L.A. has a 5.5-game lead over Denver atop the Western Conference.