Lakers Stop Nuggets Win Streak to Mark Andrew Bynum's Return

If an NBA team has a win streak going, the last team they want to play is the Lakers. Earlier this year, the Lakers stopped the Celtics winning streak at 19. They also stopped the Cleveland Cavaliers home winning streak.

Tonight they stopped the Denver Nuggets’ eight-game winning streak, 116-102.

The first half started out as a battle between two NBA Super Stars and teammates on the U.S. Gold Medal Team—Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. Bryant shot 5-of-8 and 6-of-7 from the line for 17 points. Anthony was 6-of-10 and 4-of-4 from the line for 16 points.

The battle subsided in the second half when Anthony went to the bench with five fouls and 23 points. Bryant, however, went on to score a game-high 33 points.

The game marked the return of Andrew Bynum after an absence of 32 games. Bynum showed some rust in the first half but came on strong in the second half, finishing with 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Lakers also showed some rust in the first half. Despite having more than twice as many free throw attempts (24 to 11), the Lakers managed to give away an 11-point lead as J.R. Smith hit a 3-point shot with .2 seconds remaining in the half to knot the game at 56.

But the Lakers also came on strong in the second half behind Bynum and the real star on the boards—Pau Gasol. The only way the Nuggets could stop Gasol was to foul him. Gasol finished with 27 points (9-11 from the free throw line) and a personal record 19 rebounds, 11 on the offensive boards.

Though the Nuggets held an 8-7 edge in offensive rebounds at the end of the first half, Gasol’s efforts in the second half put the Lakers up 18-10 for the game.

The lost man

As I expected and wrote about in my last article, with Bynum starting, Lamar Odom, a guaranteed double-double lately, is just not as effective off the bench. He managed nine rebounds put his offensive output shrank to seven points.

If the last two games are any indication, Jordan Farmar may not be the heir apparent to Derek Fisher at point guard. Instead, Shannon Brown has been the first off the bench to take over for D-Fish and has done remarkably well.

Brown managed five points to go with his three assists and a steal. But it was his defensive efforts that have earned him a spot in the rotation.

The next game is tomorrow night in Portland, where the Lakers have lost seven straight. Kurt Rambis will coach the Lakers tomorrow as Phil Jackson has decided to stay home and rest a foot that has been bothering him.