LOS ANGELES (AP)—Danilo Gallinari(notes) scored 22 points, Kenyon Martin(notes) scored
six of his 18 in the final 3:24, and the Denver Nuggets hung on for their sixth
straight win, 95-90 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant(notes) scored 28 points for the Lakers, who snapped a nine-game winning
streak to fall 2 1/2 games behind San Antonio in the Western Conference. The
NBA-leading Spurs beat Phoenix 114-97 earlier Sunday to end a six-game slide.
Los Angeles has six games left to try and overtake the Spurs and earn
homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. The Lakers face the Spurs for the
fourth and final time this season on April 12 in their next-to-last
regular-season game.
The Lakers need five more wins to reach 60 for the 12th time and third under
coach Phil Jackson. All seven of Jackson’s teams to reach 60 victories won the
NBA title, including five times with Chicago.
The Lakers went into the All-Star break 8 1/2 games behind the Spurs following
a three-game skid capped by an embarrassing 104-99 road loss to league-worst
Cleveland.
Pau Gasol(notes) had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, and reserve Lamar
Odom(notes) chipped in with 17 points and seven boards. Andrew Bynum(notes) had 16 rebounds
and reserve forward Matt Barnes(notes) returned from a one-game suspension with five
points in 18 minutes.
The Lakers were leading 49-46 when Gasol was fouled by Nene on a dunk and
crashed to the floor holding his right knee with 9:17 left in the third quarter.
Gasol flexed his leg several times at the scorer’s table after the ensuing
timeout before play resumed, and he played another 60 seconds before going to
the dressing room. The four-time All-Star was back on the bench moments later
and reported back in with 4:11 left in the third.
Bryant missed seven of his first nine shots, but still led the Lakers to a
47-40 halftime lead—offsetting Gallinari’s 18 first-half points.
Nuggets sixth man J.R. Smith(notes) picked up three fouls in less than 5 minutes
after reporting into the game. He played 16 minutes and finished with only four
points.
Both teams got off to cold-shooting starts, with Los Angeles starting out 6
for 21 and Denver going 5 for 17.
Referee Ron Garretson handed out technical fouls to Nuggets coach George
Karl and Bryant during the second quarter.
Jackson-coached teams are 38-21 against teams coached by George Karl during
their off-and-on 17-year rivalry—including a 12-4 mark in the postseason.
Jackson’s Bulls beat Karl’s Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals, and the
Lakers eliminated the Nuggets from the playoffs in 2008 and 2009.
Notes: Bryant needs to play 58 more minutes to become the 24th player in NBA
history with at least 40,000 in the regular season … Former Lakers assistant
coach Tex Winter, whose innovative triangle offense served as a blueprint for
Jackson’s NBA-record 11 championships in Chicago and Los Angeles, will formally
be announced as one of the newest members of the Basketball Hall of Fame on
Monday prior to the NCAA championship game at Houston—the city where he spent
his only two seasons as an NBA head coach with the Rockets in the early 1970s.
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Surging Nuggets end Lakers’ 9-game run (AP)