DENVER, Dec. 5 (AP) -- The Los Angeles Lakers'' team effort
trumped Allen Iverson''s big night. Iverson scored a season-high
51
points but the Lakers had three players, led by Kobe Bryant''s 25, score
20-plus points to give the Lakers a 111-107 win over the Denver Nuggets
on Wednesday night. Vladimir Radmanovic scored 21 points and Derek
Fisher added 20 for the Lakers. Carmelo Anthony had 26 points and eight
rebounds and Marcus Camby had 20 rebounds for the Nuggets. "We absorbed
a lot of points from Iverson,'''' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He got
our whole team in foul trouble.'''' Iverson scored 49 points through the
first three quarters but was held to a just a layup in the fourth. The
Lakers clamped down on the 6-foot guard, forcing the ball out of his
hands. The strategy worked. Iverson took only four shots in the last 12
minutes. "When somebody gets 49 points in the first three quarters
obviously its going to draw attention to the other team,'''' said
Iverson, whose career high of 60 came against Orlando on Feb. 12, 2005.
"When somebody''s got 49 points they want to make sure I get the ball
out of my hands, and that''s what they did. My responsibly is to give it
up and my teammates had to make plays.'''' They couldn''t. Anthony was
4-for-10 from the field in the fourth and the rest of the team made 3
of 9. While Iverson got cold, Bryant heated up. Bryant picked up his
fourth foul 38
seconds into the third quarter and sat the rest of the
period, but he played the entire fourth, scoring 12 points. With the
game tied at 102, he scored six straight points for the Lakers to give
them a 108-104 lead with 35.3 seconds left. Kenyon Martin hit one of
two free throws with 23.2 seconds left, but Fisher hit two foul shots
to make it 110-105 with 15.8 seconds left. Anthony missed a 3-pointer
and Fisher hit a free throw to seal the win. Bryant also helped stop
Iverson in the fourth quarter. "I''m not one of these players that
believes if a guy gets hot there''s nothing you can do about it,'''' he
said. "I just don''t believe that.'''' For three quarters, the Lakers
couldn''t stop Iverson. He was 17-for-23 from the field and scored 16 of
Denver''s 30 points in the third period to help the Nuggets tie the game
at 88. "I just got in a rhythm. I kept attacking,'''' Iverson said.
"Everything that I saw open, I attacked, and I was able to knock down
shots. When I got the ball, it seemed like every move that I made, it
would throw the defender off.'''' But Iverson, who played the entire
game, had trouble finding any room to shoot in the fourth. "It was fun
seeing him play that well, but shooting the ball and being hit and
fouled so often, it wears on you,'''' Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I
think he got fatigued a little bit.'''' Before he tired, Iverson was
electric. He single-handedly kept the Nuggets in the game and overcame
the Lakers'' 3-point shooting in the first 36 minutes. Los Angeles hit
nine 3s entering the fourth, five from Radmanovic. Iverson scored nine
straight points late in the third to give Denver a 79-76 lead and push
his point total to 49. The Lakers rallied to take an 80-79 lead, but
Iverson drove the lane, and when two Lakers collapsed on him, he kicked
the ball to Eduardo Najera, who hit a 3-pointer. Notes: Iverson''s 33 first-half points tied his career high in
a first half, which he set at Milwaukee on Dec. 18, 2004. His
career-high for a half was 36 at Orlando on Nov. 10, 1999. ...
Iverson''s 51 points are the most by a Nuggets player since Mahmoud
Abdul-Rauf had 51 at Utah on Dec. 7, 1995. ... The Nuggets'' franchise
record for points in a game is held by David Thompson, who had 73
against Detroit on April 9, 1978. ... Bryant left the game with a hurt
left shoulder after he took a hard foul with 2.5 seconds left in the
first period. "something that was going to be too serious,'''' B