Lakers Gameday | 11/29/07 | Lakers 127, Nuggets 99

Kobe Bryant scored 24 points and reserve guard Sasha Vujacic dominated the fourth quarter, scoring 19 of his career-high 22 points and powering the Los Angeles Lakers to a 127-99 rout of the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Vujacic shot 6-for-14 in 21 minutes of action. Andrew Bynum had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Luke Walton added a career-high 14 points in 27 minutes. The Lakers' much-improved second unit played so spectacularly and efficiently down the stretch that Bryant didn't play in the fourth quarter - despite the fact that the Lakers only had a six-point lead after three. The reserves outscored their Denver counterparts 63-29.

Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 23 points and Allen Iverson had 21. The loss was the Nuggets' third straight, following a 7-1 stretch.

J.R. Smith opened the fourth with a layup that cut Los Angeles' lead to 81-77. The Lakers then went on a 24-8 run that extended the margin to 105-85. Vujacic scored the Lakers' last seven points of the rally - two free throws, followed by a 3-pointer and then a 20-footer with 6:41 to play.

Earlier in the run, Vujacic was fouled by Eduardo Najera behind the 3-point line and sank all three free throws.

Anthony was ejected with 6:18 remaining after committing a flagrant foul against Vujacic, hitting him in the throat away from the ball.

Trailing by two at halftime, the Lakers opened the third quarter with a 19-3 run capped by Walton's short jumper with 6 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.

Just hours after he was given a two-year contract extension, Lakers coach Phil Jackson watched all five of his starters miss their first shot of the game and saw his team commit eight turnovers in the opening quarter against a Denver defense that had forced a league-best 19.7 turnovers per game coming in.

The Nuggets opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer by Linas Kleiza and a tip-in basket by NBA rebounding leader Marcus Camby to build their lead to 38-21, their biggest of the game.

Lakers forward Lamar Odom missed nine of his first 11 shots, then converted a no-look, one-bounce pass from Bryant into a layup that rimmed the basket before falling through. It capped a 30-14 run that sliced Denver's lead to 52-51 with 54.6 seconds left in the half. Point guard Derek Fisher helped fuel the rally with a pair of 3-pointers, then added a driving layup with 2 minutes left in the half for his 7,000th career point.

Jelani McCoy, who began the day with the Lakers' Development League club before signing with Denver as a free agent, did not see action. McCoy has played for five teams in seven NBA seasons. The former UCLA center appeared in four preseason games with the Nuggets before being waived on Oct. 23.

Notes: Nuggets coach George Karl brought his team into Staples Center one day after the Lakers assigned his son Koby to their D-League team. But at least Karl got to see him play in the game preceding the main event - instead of watching him languishing at the end of the Lakers' bench. Koby started and played 39 minutes during the D-Fenders' 123-111 win over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, scoring 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting with four assists and five rebounds. ... Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy is 11-5 against Mike Jr., who has played for Golden State and Indiana.

The Denver Nuggets were one of the hottest offensive teams in the NBA when they made their first trip to Staples Center. Since then, they've been one of the coldest.

The Nuggets look to snap out of their offensive funk when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday in a matchup of two of the NBA's highest-scoring teams.

Denver (9-6) took a six-game win streak into Los Angeles when it faced the Clippers on Nov. 21. The Nuggets shot 50.3 percent in winning those six games by an average of 20.8 points, but shot just 39.1 percent and lost 101-90 to the Clippers.

That was the first of four straight games in which Denver has shot worse than 40.0 percent from the field, with the Nuggets dropping three of those contests.

On Tuesday, the Nuggets gave up the first 15 points and trailed 21-3 against Indiana before rallying to get back into the game. They led by as many as seven late in the third quarter, but eventually fell 112-110.

Injury-plagued Denver lost the lead while missing seven of its first eight shots in the fourth quarter and trailed the rest of the way.

"We got behind so much in the beginning, and we had to use so much energy trying to get back into the game, being so short-handed, it was tough on us," said Denver guard Allen Iverson, who had 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds but shot 6-for-21 from the field.

Carmelo Anthony added 25 points and seven rebounds, but missed 12 of 21 shots. He's shooting 50.5 percent in the Nuggets' nine wins, but 35.5 percent in their six losses.

Despite their recent shooting woes, the Nuggets are still among the league leaders in scoring at 105.5 points per game. The Lakers are just behind them with 105.2.

Los Angeles (8-6) snapped a three-game skid with a 106-99 victory over Seattle on Tuesday. The Lakers nearly blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, but held on to win for the fourth time in five home games.

"I didn't like the way we finished up," coach Phil Jackson said. "We had a 15-point lead, then we were wandering around defensively and started doing some things I didn't like.

"It's the sign of a young team that's still unbridled and still undisciplined. I'm not happy with that game, but it was a win."

Kobe Bryant had 35 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and passed Bernard King for 32nd place on the all-time scoring list. Bryant has 19,686 points, 25 behind John Stockton in 31st.

The Nuggets could get a boost from Kenyon Martin if the oft-injured forward is able to return Thursday. Martin, who has undergone microfracture surgery on both knees the last two years, missed Denver's last game with another knee injury. An MRI on Monday revealed only a bone bruise, and he is day-to-day.

After losing their first game against the Lakers last season while Anthony was serving a league suspension, the Nuggets went on to win the teams' next three meetings. Anthony averaged 30.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals in those games.

Bryant, meanwhile, averaged 23.8 points on 38.2 percent shooting in the four games against the Nuggets last season.