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Lakers take on Nuggets at Pepsi Center

Jan 21, 2011 - 4:11 PM (Sports Network) - The two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers hope to salvage the back end of a brief two-game road trip when they visit a Denver Nuggets team hoping to put the Carmelo Anthony trade rumors in the rear-view mirror.

The Lakers dropped the opener of their brief trek in Dallas on Wednesday when Shawn Marion and Jason Terry both supplied 22 points off the bench as the Mavericks snapped a six-game losing streak with a 109-100 victory over Los Angeles.

Pau Gasol had 23 points and Kobe Bryant added 21 points with 10 assists for the Lakers, who have dropped two of three after posting seven straight wins.

"We were very disappointed with the way we played," said Los Angeles head coach Phil Jackson. "We thought we should have been up by 16 points in the first half. We let them stay in the ballgame and then they had that third quarter that was really a great finish to it. And they got us on our heels."

Oft-injured Lakers center Andrew Bynum hyperextended his right elbow in Dallas but expects to play Friday.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, continue to persevere despite the strong rumors that had Anthony and fellow star Chauncey Billups relocating to New Jersey as early as this week.

That all died down earlier in the week when Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov pulled the plug on negotiations, telling his people to walk away from trade talks because he believed the discussions have cost his team wins.

"It's taken too long. It has been played out in public and certainly has taken a toll on the players," Prokhorov said during a press conference Wednesday before the Nets hosted Utah.

Anthony, of course, has already turned down a pair of extension offers with the Nuggets with the intent of playing closer to his home of Brooklyn, NY.

On the floor, Denver won for the fourth time in five games on Wednesday when Anthony netted a game-high 35 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Nuggets to a 112-107 win over Oklahoma City.

Billups and Nene both had 16 points for Denver in that one.

"[Anthony] was good. I didn't expect anything else. He's always had a professionalism to him that when game time starts he's usually involved and focused on what we have to do," Nuggets head coach George Karl said.

Denver has won two straight and four of its last five regular season matchups with the Lakers, including 118-112 win in the Rockies earlier this season.