Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, middle, tries to drive though Denver Nuggets' Danilo Gallinari, left, and Al Harrington during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, in Los Angeles on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.
The Lakers returned to Staples Center for Game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series against the Denver Nuggets, hoping to do Tuesday night exactly what they did Sunday afternoon in Game 1.
Only better.
Tall order, right?
The Lakers had their moments of brilliance Tuesday, although not nearly as many as Sunday. But they held on for a 104-100 victory over the Nuggets and took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series in front of a sellout crowd of 18,997.
After two days of rest, recovery and adjustments, the teams will meet again Friday for Game 3 at Denver's Pepsi Center. Game 4 will be Sunday in Denver, with Game 5, if necessary, scheduled for next Tuesday at Staples.
The Lakers haven't trailed yet in the series, but their effectiveness came and went at times in Game 2, and there were reasons to wonder if the Nuggets hadn't solved some of their many shortcomings from Game 1.
"We talked about this for the last few days, that (Denver point guard) Ty Lawson was going to come out aggressive and he did," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "We don't expect anything different in Game 3 in Denver. ... It's really simplistic. Think tempo and think poise."
With Lawson guiding them, the Nuggets finally got the pace to their liking and the higher tempo enabled them to erase nearly all of a 19-point, third-quarter deficit. The Lakers, although struggling to contain the Nuggets, refused to collapse.
Lawson rebounded
from a poor shooting performance in Game 1 to score 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting. Lawson scored only seven points on 3-for-11 shooting in Game 1, but a personal 7-0 run sparked a third-quarter comeback Tuesday.The Nuggets scored 100 points for the first time in six games this season against the Lakers, but couldn't get closer than four points in the final minutes.
Kobe Bryant scored a team-leading 38 points on 15-for-29 shooting for the Lakers.
Andrew Bynum added 27 points and nine rebounds, Pau Gasol scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Ramon Sessions scored 14 points.
The Lakers played for the third game without small forward Metta World Peace, who is serving a seven-game suspension for elbowing James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder in a April 22 game at Staples Center.
Brown finished the game with three guards, Bryant, Sessions and Steve Blake, on the floor. Devin Ebanks, World Peace's replacement, scored only four points and grabbed eight rebounds and was on the bench during crunch time.
Sessions, rather than Bryant, led the Lakers in the fourth quarter.
He scored 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting in the final period, but still marveled at Bryant's ability to score when the game was on the line. Bryant scored five in the fourth.
"Oh, you definitely sit back and watch some of the shots he hits and say, `Man, am I glad to have that guy on my team,"' said Sessions, who joined the Lakers in a March 15 trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
As ever, Bryant held the Lakers' fortunes in his capable hands. Coming off two warm-up games after sitting out seven because of a left shin injury in the regular season's final weeks, he opened the playoffs with a team-leading 31 points in Game 1.
Bryant seemed determined to exploit the Nuggets' lackluster defense against him in Game 2. He torched Arron Afflalo, a former UCLA standout, and Corey Brewer, his backup, during an electric first half that had the Staples Center crowd roaring.
The chess game began with Denver coach George Karl determined to keep Bynum and fellow 7-footer Gasol from battering the Nuggets in the paint as they did Sunday. The Nuggets packed their defense around Bynum and Gasol in Game 2.
Bryant stepped outside and shot holes in the Nuggets' defense, taking advantage of their solo coverage against him on the perimeter. Bryant scored 21 points on 9-for-12 shooting by halftime and had 33 points on 14-for-22 shooting through three quarters.
"They've tried to double-team us, randomly picking and choosing their spots and we made them pay a couple of times when they have come too quickly," Brown said when asked about the Nuggets' defensive coverage.
"I think they probably said, `Hey, let's try something else. Let's see if they can beat us in single coverage."'
So, Bryant did.
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