 Kobe was magical as he flips this no-look pass behind his head against Denver. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images from Nuggets-Lakers: 56k | 300k |
Fisher, who had missed the first 11 games while recovering from offseason surgery on his broken right foot, put the Lakers in position to win with three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
"It was tough sitting here on the bench," Fisher said. "I came here to work, I'm glad that I'm back. I'm glad our basketball team is slowly coming around. We're finding ways to win basketball games on nights when we're not playing great. That's what great teams have to do."
Following two missed free throws by Shaquille O'Neal, George came out of nowhere to steal the ball from Raef LaFrentz and Scott Williams to throw in a layup that gave the Lakers a 98-96 lead with 59 seconds left.
George McCloud missed a jumper and O'Neal was fouled again. This time, he made both free throws, and James Posey committed an offensive foul with 42 seconds left, dashing Denver's chances.
Fisher also drew that foul, as Posey was whistled for it before the Nuggets could get the ball inbounds.
"He hit me pretty good," Fisher said. "I was fighting pretty hard and I knew they were trying to get the ball to Nick (Van Exel). He stuck his hip out pretty good. I'm glad they called it. It was a big momentum change for us."
It was a case of deja vu for Fisher, who missed the first 62 games last season recovering from a broken foot and scored a career-high 26 points in his return.
In that game on March 13 against the Boston Celtics, he was 8-of-16 from the field and had six steals. He also hit a running jumper late in the fourth quarter that gave the Lakers the lead for good.
"I kept his minutes down at least this time when he returned, but he was pretty amazing," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I think Fisher is so dedicated to what he does as a player that he is in a groove. He's been shooting for almost a month now and it's great to see him have such a good night."
Early on, it looked like the Lakers were on their way to another easy win as they made 12 of their first 16 shots. But the Nuggets erased a 61-49 deficit in the third quarter and took an 80-78 lead into the final period.
Nick Van Exel had 13 of his 34 points and Posey had nine of his 17 in the spurt.
But the Nuggets were outscored 27-18 in the final 12 minutes, including 9-0 down the stretch before a meaningless basket.
"We had our chances," Van Exel said. "We fought for 48 minutes. But our offensive rebounds pretty much hurt us. We had some good looks, some good shots but we didn't knock them down. They capitalized. That's why they're the world champions."
Kobe Bryant scored 25 points and O'Neal added 22 for the Lakers, who have won five straight games.
O'Neal, who scored just 10 points on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center, had no problems against Denver's lack of a post presence. He scored 15 points at halftime against the combination of Shawnelle Scott and Williams, who could do little to stop him.
But O'Neal struggled from the line, going just 4-of-13.
The Nuggets have lost three in a row overall and have dropped 10 in a row on the road to the Lakers since January 7, 1996.