Lakers hit 17 3-pointers, win 122-103 over Denver

By GREG BEACHAM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Antawn Jamison scored 33 points while leading an outstanding game by the Lakers' reserves, and Dwight Howard had 28 points and 20 rebounds before hitting Los Angeles' 17th 3-pointer in the final seconds of a 122-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.

Jodie Meeks scored 21 points on seven 3-pointers for the Lakers, who improved to 3-3 under Mike D'Antoni while playing splendidly at the furious tempo favored by their new coach.

The Lakers tied the club record for 3-pointers in a regulation game, getting five from Jamison in the first 30-point game by a Lakers reserve since 1998.

Howard capped it with just the second 3-pointer of his career with 9.8 seconds to play.

Danilo Gallinari scored 19 points for the Nuggets, who lost three times on their three-game trip.

POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike D'Antoni:

On on the team’s overall performance:
“So many guys had good games. I just thought the ball was moving better, just a lot of good things happening. Now we just got to continue and continue to get better. It was probably the same press conference after Dallas and then we went backward, and we can’t do that anymore.”

On the team’s offensive performance:
“When we feel rhythm then you have guys that can really contribute. And obviously Jodie Meeks is not going to be seven out of eight every night and Antawn Jamison’s not just going to come in and kill it every night, but at the same time Metta [World Peace] didn’t shoot the ball real well. Kobe [Bryant] didn’t shoot it real well. So we just have to fire on all cylinders.”

On the team’s defensive performance:
“We just got to make sure we stay consistent on defense and you see the problem is sometimes we just score so easy we get a little sloppy on defense, and we can’t do that. Sometimes we get tired and we revert back to ‘bully basketball’, we just beat somebody up instead of us [playing good defense]. Those are habits. Those are things I do believe we can overcome and try to do it.

On rotating in Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks:
“It’s important, and it’s important that we spread the floor for Dwight [Howard]. That’s the thinking behind it. I don’t want to lose Jordan [Hill], I don’t want to lose Pau [Gasol], but at the same time we do have to spread the floor and we will continue to do that and look for spots for the other guys because they can play and they deserve to play and I wanted to play them.”

On the importance of starting fast offensively:
“That will be the key. And I know I keep piling stuff on him but that’s [Steve] Nash’s kind of specialty. He starts off with the ball flowing and then it’s easier. He does it in practice. Every day he plays the ball’s moving so you get used to playing that pace, that way, and the game comes a lot easier.”

On the play of Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks:
“They’re guys that can spread the floor. They’re smart. They can shoot it extremely well, especially [Jodie] Meeks. Antawn [Jamison] is more of just a scorer all over the place, you know one night it may be threes, you know whatever, but he’s extremely smart, both of them and they’re not so bad defensively because you got Dwight in the back. They could be two major parts that we need to keep developing and just give them space and let them go and let them play. They’re veterans and they’ve been around a long time. They’ve been scoring big numbers for a lot of years so there’s no reason why they can’t do it.

On Dwight Howard’s 3 pointer and offensive production:
“Dwight shoots more 3 pointers than anyone on the team after practice. We were up, we had fun, we did a good job. He went out to the 3 point line, I didn’t expect him to catch the ball and shoot it but he shot with confidence. And it’s ironic, the last game we played, totally opposite as for offensively and tonight we were able to open up the floor, create shots, get more opportunities and those are the type of the things we got to do moving forward.”

On his spark offensively:
“Just being myself. D’Antoni is doing a great job as far as just telling me, be aggressive, you know play your game, I know what you can do. He’s given me that kind of confidence and my teammates have been doing a great job as far as telling me to keep my head and go out there and compete. I had fun, we all had fun, and those are the types of things we got to do going forward.”

On his shooting performance:
“My teammates found me wide open, I have to give credit to them and credit to my hard work. I think I’ve put in a lot of time but it was a total team effort tonight and I’m glad we got the win.”

On the difference in the last 2 games:
“Well yeah, I think we have games like that in this league. What we got to do is bounce back and I think we did that tonight and we’re .500. We wanted to get over .500 and get on track to playing the way we are capable of playing.”

On Jodie Meeks & Antawn Jamison:
“It didn’t surprise me. I think they are both capable shooters. They get going anytime. They have done it in their careers before and they are in perfect spots to get their games at a high level. Today they both made a lot of shots and that might not happen every night but once they get going you have to find them and feed them.”

On tonight’s performance compared to last game:
“It was just a total different game. We just made a lot more shots today than we did in the game before and hopefully we will make more shots in the next one against Orlando. The other game was a heartbreaker for us. We scrambled, we were off most of the night and we missed a lot of free throws, had turnovers and we lost to a last second shot. Everything tonight just went a lot better and now we have to find that consistency in our game.”

On playing against Andre Iguodala:
“I’ve been a fan of his since he came out of Arizona. I’ve always tried to look out for him as much as I could, talk to him about the game and things like that. I’m just happy for him to be in a situation where he feels comfortable.”

On Antawn’s consistency:
“He was out there on the floor with us. He obviously has individual talent to do these things. He was on a pretty bad team last year and he had a pretty successful career and season individually. Now he’s playing here with a bunch of players that can be a lot of potential so he has room to operate and he’s very comfortable doing it.”

On tonight’s performance:
“I think it was that we played inside-out. We ran the floor tonight, we were very active and we had fun. We played with a lot of energy from the beginning of the game, that’s how we got out to the early lead and just stayed up.”

On the difference in the last 2 games:
“We’re going to have those nights where we can’t hit shots but we can’t lose faith in our shots. We can’t stop playing. We just got to go and do what we know how to do and that’s what we did tonight and we just got to keep it going.”

On the Lakers 3-point game:
“They made some tough shots, but they had a lot of open looks. Jamison and Meeks got into a great rhythm early and it’s tough to shut down guys once they get going. We have always had trouble with the three ball. In certain games like San Antonio and tonight we were always reacting to all the cuteness and coach D’Antoni knows how to teach that stuff. ”

On Antawn Jamison:
“I think Jamison is going to play a lot of minutes for them. I think the way Mike likes to play he needs a shooting forward out there and I think Jamison has done that for many years…He knows how to get open and when he is making shots he is tough to cover.”

On the game:
“I thought we fought to a degree and then they got it back up to twenty and our gas tank was fairly empty.”

“I thought there was fatigue. Mental fatigue and physical fatigue. I was a little disappointed, but I think I have to be aware of the schedule…we are still in a very good place. We have got to keep playing our own game and figure out how to steal a few on the road.

On if energy played a factor tonight:
“Yes, especially trying to be an up-tempo team. We have to come out with energy and get up and down the court, and they know that. They hit a lot of three pointers and took off with the game from there.”

On Dwight Howard and the bench’s performance for the Lakers:
“They had a good game; they did what they were supposed to do. We played some good basketball; we just didn’t match the energy.”

On defending the three pointers better:
“We were last in the league last year as far as giving up three pointers. This is our third or fourth game this year where we’ve given up ten or more threes. We preach keeping the ball out of the paint; we’re trying to force teams to take tough contested jump-shots. They were hitting threes, and that just happens sometimes.”

On what the Nuggets didn’t do tonight defensively:
“We knew that they were a better three point shooting team than last year, and too many times we left their two best shooters open with [Antawn] Jamison and [Jodie] Meeks, and they were ready to shoot those threes. They were finding the open man every time, and then Dwight [Howard] played a great game. So, it was tough, we didn’t stick to the plan.”

On the Lakers’ bench:
“We take pride in playing defense. We feel like we set ourselves that we can defend with the best teams in “That was the big key of the game; the bench came out and they played very well. We definitely have to come back. We have a home game now, and we have two days to figure out how to get better. We need to play a better game at home, and take care of home [court].”

On if the team was fatigued tonight:
“We can’t use that as an excuse simply because this is a part of the NBA, the schedule sometimes, it’ll take advantage of you or you will take advantage of it. We knew coming into this year, looking ahead at the schedule, we were going to have some nights where we face teams with a few days off, and sometimes we would have four of five nights, so you just have to be prepared for it and you have to perform.”

On giving up so many three pointers:
“They’re doing a good job of executing, especially on misdirection plays. They’re looking for the three, and they have some action going on, and we’re taking the bait a little bit. They’re getting what they want. We have to do a better job of realizing that early on and adjusting to that, instead of having to adjust the next day in film.”

NUGGETS-LAKERS PREVIEW

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers needed seven games to eliminate the Denver Nuggets from the playoffs last season.

Getting a victory in their first meeting since will likely require a much better shooting performance, especially from the free throw line.

Bryant and the Lakers will try to rebound from the team's worst effort of the season Friday night against the Nuggets.

Los Angeles (7-8) dumped Denver (8-8) out of the opening round of last spring's postseason, winning 96-87 in Game 7 at Staples Center as Bryant averaged 29.1 points in the series.

The superstar guard isn't far off that pace this season, leading the NBA with 27.7 points per game. He's averaging 31.8 over the past four games, but the Lakers have dropped three of them to fall to 2-3 under coach Mike D'Antoni.

They failed to capitalize on another big night by Bryant in Wednesday's 79-77 home loss to Indiana, giving up the decisive basket with 0.1 seconds to play. Bryant overcame the flu to pour in 40 points, but he committed 10 turnovers while Los Angeles shot a season-low 31.6 percent from the field and missed 20 of 43 from the line.

"It was just a tough game for us, because we didn't make shots," Bryant said. "On top of that, we didn't make free throws. I've got to minimize my mistakes. Ten turnovers is way too many for me, so I have to work on perfecting that and bringing that down. I just felt like I played to the crowd too much."

Perhaps hosting Denver can provide a spark for the Lakers. They've won 32 of the past 38 meetings there, including a 25-4 record while averaging 109.7 points during the regular season.

Bryant has 29.5 points per contest over the past 25 overall matchups.

He could use some help from Dwight Howard, who is averaging 11.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks while hitting only 14 of 31 free throws over the last four games. The All-Star center showed signs of ending his funk Wednesday with 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, but he made just 3 of 12 from the foul line.

"It's been a tough stretch for us early in the season," Howard said. "We can't lose our faith. We'll find a rhythm and we'll get in a groove, but we can't let what we're going through get us down right now."

Howard is averaging 17.1 points and 13.7 boards in 14 career games versus the Nuggets.

Denver is trying to salvage a win in the finale of this three-game road trip, but the team may feel it should be looking for a winning record.

Video review stopped the Nuggets' celebrations by showing Andre Iguodala's potential game-winning 3-pointer came after the buzzer in Thursday's 106-105 loss at Golden State.

Coach George Karl seemed to stop short of declaring a controversy.

"If I put a stopwatch on ... it seems like the clock started early for me," Karl said. "There's nothing to argue about. The camera says it's in his hands."

Iguodala, who finished with 22 points, leads Denver with 15.7 per game and is shooting 39.3 percent from 3-point range. The swingman is averaging 17.3 points in six road meetings with the Lakers despite shooting 3 for 19 from beyond the arc.

Danilo Gallinari, who contributed 20 points and nine rebounds Thursday, may be looking to redeem himself in this visit to Staples Center after making just 1 of 9 shots from the floor to finish with three points in Game 7. The forward finished the series averaging 13.4 points on 36.2 percent shooting while making only 4 of 23 from long range.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers took last season’s series form the Nuggets 3-1 after dropping their 2010-11 series to Denver (1-2) as well as the 2009-10 series (1-3); only the second time the Lakers have lost consecutive season series to the Nuggets (1977-78, 1978-79). The two teams have met 150 times in the regular season with the Lakers leading the alltime series 98-52. The Lakers are 5-5 in their last 10 regular season meetings with the Nuggets. At STAPLES Center, the Lakers are 20-4 against the Nuggets all-time in the regular season (7-3 in their last 10). In Denver, the Lakers are 4-6 in their last 10 regular season road games at Pepsi Center. The Lakers and Nuggets have met in the postseason six times (1979, 1985, 1987, 2008, 2009 and 2012) with the Lakers advancing on each occasion, most recently defeating Denver 4-3 in the 2012 Western Conference First Round. In 56 career regular season games including 47 starts against the Nuggets, Kobe Bryant is averaging 25.0 points. Bryant established the series record for points in a game (51) in February of 2003. Nuggets forwards Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari and center Timofey Mozgov all played under Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni while with the New York Knicks. Nuggets guard/forward Andre Iguodala was acquired by Denver this offseason from Philadelphia as part of the four-time trade in which the Lakers sent Andrew Bynum to the 76ers and received Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon and Earl Clark from Orlando. Nuggets guard Andrew Miller played his prep basketball locally at Verbum Dei high school in Los Angeles. Nuggets head coach George Karl (senior) and Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak (freshman) played one season together at the University of North Carolina (1972-73). Lakers assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff worked six-plus seasons with the Nuggets (1990- 97), serving as President, General Manager and head coach at various times during his tenure in Denver. Lakers assistant coach Darvin Ham began his NBA playing career with the Nuggets in 1996. Nuggets assistant coach Melvin Hunt served as a Lakers assistant coach during the 2005-05 season.

LAST REGULAR SEASON MEETING
A game removed from becoming the fifth Laker in franchise history to record 30 rebounds in a single contest, Andrew Bynum scored a game-high 30 points, becoming the first player in more than 30 years to follow a 30-rebound game with a 30-point game as the Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 103-97 at STAPLES Center. The win, coming in spite of the Lakers nearly surrendering all of a 12-point fourth quarter lead, marked the team’s third straight despite playing without the injured Kobe Bryant. In addition to Bynum, Matt Barnes finished with a season-high 24 points (9-11 FG, 4-4 3FG) and 10 rebounds. Pau Gasol (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Metta World Peace (14 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals) rounded out the Lakers in double-figures. The Nuggets, losers despite outscoring Los Angeles 68-40 in the paint and 21-13 off the fastbreak, were led by Andre Miller’s 20 points. Al Harrington and Arron Afflalo each scored 18 points while JaVale McGee rounded out the Nuggets in double-figures with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. With the victory, the Lakers became the third team in the West to clinch a playoff spot, marking their 59th postseason appearance in 64 NBA seasons and 31st in 33 seasons since Dr. Buss purchased the team.