DENVER(AP) The Denver Nuggets evened the Western Conference finals Monday night, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 120-101 in Game 4 despite a hobbled Carmelo Anthony.

Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith scored 24 points and Kenyon Martin posted a double-double as the Nuggets posted their eighth blowout of the postseason but first against Los Angeles following three games that came down to the final seconds.

The Nuggets didn't need to worry about a botched inbounds pass in the closing seconds like the ones that cost them wins in Games 1 and 3, although Kobe Bryant had another monster fourth quarter in a furious attempt to put a stranglehold on the series that shifts to Los Angeles for Game 5 Wednesday night.

Bryant, who is averaging 37 points in the series, scored 34, including 14 in the fourth quarter.

He put a scare into the Nuggets and their fans until Smith hit back-to-back dagger 3-pointers for a 113-96 cushion.

Anthony finished with a hard-fought 15 points, and Martin had 13 points and 15 boards.

The game featured four technical fouls and 84 free throws, 49 by Denver.

'Melo's shooting slump continued as he went 3-for-16 and missed his first 10 shots. Making matters worse, he turned his right ankle in the first half. At the break, he needed fluids and had his ankle retaped, then returned with a dogged determination to help the Nuggets however he could to pull even in the series.

Bryant and Pau Gasol (21 points) kept the Lakers within striking distance. The Lakers cut a 16-point deficit to 102-92 on four Bryant free throws with 3:49 left thanks to technicals on Martin and Anthony.

The Nuggets relied on a balanced attack with Anthony ailing - seven players scored in double digits - and while they still weren't very good from the floor (44 percent), they did work the ball around for better looks, attacked the lane more and got to the line. This accomplished exactly what all those misfirings couldn't in Game 3 - energize the Pepsi Center crowd.

The Nuggets, who haven't lost back-to-back home games all season, were coming off their first loss in the Mile High City since March 9. They knew they blew a golden opportunity 48 hours earlier by trying for the dagger and misfiring on 22 of 27 3-pointers - and after three of the conversions, they gave back a point with technical free throws, no less.

"So, we were really 2-for-27,'' Nuggets coach George Karl cracked before tip-off.

This time, they shot 7-for-24 from 3-point range. One of them was Billups' pull-up 3 after a steal by Smith that gave Denver an 83-70 lead with 10 minutes to go.

DENVER (AP) The Denver Nuggets don't just need work on their inbounds play. If they're to bounce back from a second last-minute loss to the Lakers they'll also have to play to the rim Monday night and not the crowd as they did in Game 3.

The Nuggets didn't spend their Sunday lamenting Trevor Ariza's deja vu steal in the final minute to help the Lakers snare a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Instead, they talked about how they tried too hard to rile up their crowd, an ill-suited strategy that resulted in them missing 22 of 27 shots from outside the arc and shooting a playoff-low 39 percent while losing at home for the first time in 75 days.

The Nuggets' three best 3-point shooters were all off the mark: Carmelo Anthony was 1-for-7, Chauncey Billups 2-for-7, J.R. Smith 2-for-10.

Kenyon Martin said he couldn't believe the Nuggets fired up that many 3-pointers, "but we were trying to put them away.''

"We'd go up seven, eight points and trying to get the building to erupt,'' Martin said. "We've done that so much during the season and throughout the playoffs. So, we figured that's the way it was going to be. And it's not always going to be that way. You've got to grind it out sometimes, take the tough two or get to the line and score points that way.''

Billups agreed the Nuggets "shot some bad 3-point shots at bad points of the game, just taking chances, trying to hit the dagger,'' and vowed that would change for Game 4 Monday night.

In their half-dozen blowouts at the Pepsi Center in these playoffs, the Nuggets had turned their crowd into a major factor by using their transition game, pull-up 3s, kick-outs and rim-rattling dunks to turn tight games into runaways and their arena into a jet engine.

Against Los Angeles, however, the 3-pointers rimmed out all night, allowing the Lakers to stick around long enough for Kobe Bryant to win it for them in the fourth quarter with a little help from Ariza, who also stole the Nuggets' inbounds pass in the final minute to seal Game 1.

"I think we got caught up in the emotion of the moment of a great crowd, a great challenge,'' Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I think we tried to hit too many home runs rather than just take a single here, a double here and win the game that way. We tried to hit too many bombs.

"We've got to challenge the Lakers to play defense on every possession. I think we took too many shots where they didn't have to play defense.''

The Nuggets were simply too excited about playing in front of their boisterous crowd for the first time since eliminating the Mavericks 10 days earlier, and that resulted into too many bricks.

"Being home and just knowing how great this crowd is when we make 3s, when we make dunks, I think we may have put too much into that and wanted to feed off of that too much instead of playing a little smarter,'' Billups said.

The Nuggets had hoped playing at the Pepsi Center would give them some leeway to atone for mistakes, "but we can't bank on that,'' Billups said. "We've got to play the right way, like we've been playing the entire playoffs.''

Which means being more patient, getting to the basket and attacking the rim.

The Nuggets had come to expect big games from Anthony, who had averaged 35 points in his previous five games, but he had an off night, shooting 4-for-13 for 21 points, just three after halftime.

"It was just one of them nights that the shots didn't go down,'' Anthony said.

For anyone, it seemed, except the guys who aren't paid for their points.

Denver defensive specialists Dahntay Jones and Chris "Birdman'' Andersen shot a combined 10-for-15, which means their teammates were 23-for-69, or 33 percent.

The Lakers have their own issues, including Ariza's sore hip and groin and Bryant's banged-up body. And they got off to a slow start Saturday night. They know if not for the Nuggets' bad shot selection, they could very well be the ones facing a 2-1 hole.

"We've got to come out with more focus, more energy and really just execute a lot better in the defensive end of the floor,'' said Bryant, who characterized the team mood as "still a little edgy, a little upset.''

Bryant needed an IV after the game Saturday night and said that was the most exhausted he'd ever been after a playoff game.

"For two, three years now I've been playing nonstop,'' Bryant said. "Then, the physical series we had against Houston and these guys grabbing and holding more than the Houston series. It's been a really physical series. They're making me work for everything, so it's a combination of all that.''

Still, Bryant scored 41 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter.

Exhaustion?

"I couldn't tell,'' Anthony said. "But that says a lot about the way we're playing, how the series is going, it's a tough series. Both teams are battling, competing.

"We're expecting a long, exhausting series.''

To get that, the Nuggets will have to fix their inbounds play and take better shots, two things that would really give their fans reason to cheer.