Bryant leads way as Lakers beat Nuggets

Some may object Bryant’s appearance in the All-Star game during a year where he’s shooting just 34.4 percent from the field and has a player efficiency rating below 15.

The Lakers rebounded well from the severe beating by the Thunder as Kobe Bryant matched his season high with 31 points in Tuesday’s 111-107 road win over the Denver Nuggets.

The Thunder blew the game wide open with a 22-0 run during the start of the third quarter and never looked back to extend their record to 20-9. You can say the same thing about Bryant. Let’s just say they wouldn’t have been good.

He had five days to rest his sore right shoulder and didn’t do much physically because it was painful, he said. Williams isn’t known for his defense, but he didn’t compensate on the offensive end either.

Bryant has played in 15 Christmas Day games and is the holiday’s all-time scoring leader. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be very happy (Friday).

This may be a tough pill to swallow for Lakers fans, but unless the Lakers make some major moves, KD to LA is dead in the water.

“Hakeem Olajuwan, Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Clyde Drexler”, he said. “It felt great to have that appreciation”. Gary Harris went down with a strained right knee early in the game, but returned to score 21 points, tying a career high.

He had 17 first half points.

It’s not pretty, and not what many of us want to see, but it’s remarkable to see that Bryant’s greatness can transcend all of that.

Los Angeles trailed by 13 at intermission but outscored the Nuggets 32-16 in the third to take an 83-80 lead. In an example of effort not always directly translating to effectiveness, Barton responded with a crossover dribble that lead to him easily leaving Bryant in the dust and forced to (probably) foul Barton in an infraction that went uncalled.

On top of two tickets to Bryant’s last game at the Garden, the victor and guest will receive in-suite food, beverage, and a custom-made holiday ornament from the Boston Celtics.

“I hadn’t played against him in a while, and I forgot how long he was”, Bryant said.

About two weeks after the win in D.C., the Lakers beat the Milwaukee Bucks with no. 24 scoring 22 points and dishing six assists in three quarters. Bryant also played five minutes off the bench on Christmas as a rookie in 1996. Ross then closed it out with a couple of free throws.

In that first match, the Thunder won comfortably over the Lakers when they met at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

This was the definition of a tale of two halves for the Denver Nuggets.

NOTES: Nuggets F Danilo Gallinari (sprained left ankle) joined G Emmanuel Mudiay (sprained right ankle) on the sideline.