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Bryant looks to get Lakers off on positive note

Apr 20, 2008 - 1:34 PM Denver at LA Lakers 3:00 pm EDT Western Conference first round

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Kobe Bryant finally has the supporting cast he's been asking for. Now it's up to him to seal the deal.

Bryant and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers look to continue their good fortunes against the eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets in Game One of their Western Conference series on Sunday.

Earlier in the season, Bryant requested to be shipped out of Los Angeles due to the lack of talent around the perennial All-Star, but things picked up once center Pau Gasol came to town.

Acquired from Memphis in February, Gasol has eased the offensive load off Bryant and the rest the Lakers, helping the club to their first No. 1 seed since winning the title back in 2000.

"Now they don't even play the triangle as much as they just throw the ball down to Gasol," Denver coach George Karl said.

"We talked about it in training camp that our goal was to win a championship," Bryant said. "It's not to play for eight seeds or seventh seeds. It's to contend for a title, and we put ourselves in a good position. Now we have to take care of the job."

But Nuggets guard Allen Iverson doesn't feel threatened at all by the Lakers, who captured all three regular season meeting by an average of 16.3 points.

"It's just another team that we've got to get through to get where we want to be," Iverson said. "They're a great team - not taking anything away from them - but we're a great team as well."

Iverson, along with fellow All-Star Carmelo Anthony, make up one of the best 1-2 scoring combinations in the league. The duo finished in the top five in scoring

"They're a team that's got two great players that can explode at any time," Lakers forward Lamar Odom said.

Despite having the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Camby, the Nuggets still posted the worst defense by allowing 107.0 points.

The Lakers are 15-2 against the Nuggets at the Staples Center since it opened back in 1999.