Lakers 90 - 99 Nuggets
Final
  for this game

Nuggets take down Lakers

Jan 2, 2012 - 6:03 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Danilo Gallinari scored 20 points and came up with five steals as the Nuggets dominated late to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 99-90, and take the rear portion of a home-and-home set.

One night after losing 92-89 at Staples Center, the Nuggets scored the final 11 points to beat the Lakers. Andre Miller tied the game with a jumper and Gallinari put his team ahead with a dunk with just over two minutes remaining.

"That's what we want to do, we want to run every time," Gallinari said of his team's transition. "In the fourth quarter, especially, when teams are really tired we don't want to be tired. We want to run and that's what we did in the fourth quarter."

Kobe Bryant scored 16 and became the youngest player in NBA history to reach 28,000 career points, but the Lakers were held without a point for the final 2:47. Bryant was just 6-of-28 from the field and missed seven of his eight three-point tries.

"I did not coach a good game and our players did not play a good game," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "We made too many mental mistakes as a unit and we also didn't at time have the necessary sense of urgency."

Ty Lawson added 17 points and 10 assists for Denver, while Andrew Bynum totaled 18 points and 16 rebounds for LA. The Lakers also got 20 points and 11 boards from Pau Gasol.

Following Gallinari's jam off a feed from Andre Miller, Gasol missed a turnaround jumper. Bynum got the ball back via steal, but Bryant threw a poor pass that was picked off by Miller, leading to Lawson's layup with 1:21 left and a four-point cushion.

Al Harrington, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds, drained a jumper with 49.8 seconds left, and the Nuggets secured the outcome at the foul line.

Denver led 26-21 after 12 minutes, and netted the final eight points of the second for a 47-36 lead.

Bynum's three-point play tied the game at 50 with 8:09 left in the third, but in the back-and-forth affair, Chris Andersen's jumper at the buzzer boosted the hosts to a 72-71 edge going to the fourth.

Game Notes

Andersen had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Miller also had 12 points...The teams combined to shoot 6-for-41 from three-point range...Steve Blake scored 14 for the Lakers.






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