Karl sees positives for L.A.

George Karl has a vested interest in the Lakers, seeing how his son, Coby Karl, is under contract with them.

But the words of the Denver Nuggets coach carried sincerity, along with hope for Lakers fans.

“The Lakers are not a fluke,” he said. “I think they are going to be a very good team.”

The undermanned and under-the-weather Lakers beat Denver on Wednesday, 111-107, taking out a team that had been 8-2 at home The victory pushed them to 11-8, with rest and reserves on the way.

Ronny Turiaf has been cleared to run and might practice today after missing two games because of a concussion. Kwame Brown, who has missed 10 games because of a sprained knee and ankle, is further behind Turiaf. He started working out on his own last weekend but has not been cleared to practice.

The Lakers have only one game over the next six days, a home contest Sunday against Golden State.

“I’m looking forward to that [rest],” said center Chris Mihm, who averaged 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds the last two games while playing on a sore right ankle. “That’s what we need.”

--

What more could be said about Kobe Bryant’s effort against Denver?

The video replay looked even uglier than his real-life tumble to the court when he was tripped up by Eduardo Najera toward the end of the first quarter.

Bryant rose, eventually, and sat out about six minutes before returning. He missed almost the entire third quarter because of foul trouble, but with the game in the balance, made a driving layup, a finger roll and a 20-footer from the left side.

He also blocked a three-point shot by Nuggets guard Allen Iverson and deftly fed Andrew Bynum for an alley-oop dunk, all in the last three minutes.

“He did everything he felt they needed to get over the hump,” Iverson said. “He was in foul trouble, he came back in and he got it done.”

Said forward Lamar Odom: “That’s what he does. That’s what we’ve grown to expect.”

--

There was no defending the Lakers’ defense of Iverson, who had 49 points through three quarters before fading with only two points in the fourth. Coach Phil Jackson was asked what the Lakers did to finally stop him.

“Nothing,” he said. “We didn’t slow him down. He slowed himself down. We put Trevor Ariza on him and I thought that changed it up a bit.”

Jackson said Ariza’s 6-foot-8 frame was a different look for Iverson, although Iverson played all 48 minutes, which definitely made fatigue a contributing factor.

--

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com