Lakers 116 - Nuggets 99

Things that usually don't happen to often happened at Staples Center in the Lakers victory over the Denver Nuggets. First off, Derek Fisher scored 28 points to lead the Lakers. Second of all, Kobe Bryant became a play-maker dishing out 11 assist. and lastly Kwame Brown received a roar of cheers from the crowd.

Lets start out with Derek Fisher. Fish had an awesome game shooting 10 for 16 and leading all scorers in the game with 28. Yes, more than Denver's Allen Iverson or teamate Kobe Bryant. Kobe on the other hand only attempted seven shots in the game. Kobe shot good in the game going 5-7 but became Mr. Playmaker in the game and had 11 assist to go along with his 17 points.

Kwame Brown who got booed by the Laker fans the other day against the Phoenix Suns actually got some good applause in this game. During the announcement of the starting line up Kwame got more applause than anyone except Kobe Bryant, may have been many feeling really bad about the way the home fans treated Kwame in the Phoenix game. Many players said that they had never seen anything like that. Some were even screaming "I love you Kwame". Hopefully they cheered him up enough to have a career game! Well, not exactly, but he did have an average game for himself getting 7 points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes.

The Lakers started the game strong scoring 39 points in the first quarter and gaining a 10 point advantage. They held on to that lead by halftime leading 67-57. Their lead was still secure after three as they still held a 9 point lead despite losing the lead for a brief moment as the Denver Nuggets went on a 22-10 run to start the third, Marcus Camby leading that run with 10 points and putting his team on top 79-77. That went away real quick though as Fisher hit three 3-pointers and Farmar hit one of his own and suddenly the Lakers were back on top 91-82. At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Lakers opened up with a 17-5 run to give them a 21 point lead which pretty much put the game in the refrigerator.

Denver never really did much of anything in this game and when it was all over the Lakers won 116-99.

This game some give the Lakers some confidence in their life without Andrew Bynum. Denver is a decent team in the league with a 24-16 record. Of course the Lakers will not be as good as they can be with Bynum out the next couple of months but this team is still capable of winning most of their games. The Lakers may have a little more to worry about now though because Ariza will be sidelined about eight weeks because of a broken bone in his right foot, an injury he sustained Sunday in practice.

Lakers guard Coby Karl played the final 3:19 to become the third player in NBA history to go against his father, Denver coach George Karl. "It's special playing in the NBA, period," said the younger Karl, who scored one point. "Having dad watching you on the sideline and being up by 20 is really good. When the game started, I wasn't even thinking about it -- it was just another game."

Allen Iverson led the Nuggets with 24 points. Marcus Camby had 18. Carmelo Anthony had to leave the game in the second quarter after landing on Kobe Bryant's foot after a shot and spraining his ankle.