Lakers Can’t Get It Done

The Lakers dissipated in the thin mile-high air, lost in the first quarter, came back briefly in the fourth quarter, but went asunder when it mattered most Thursday night.

A playoff berth has yet to be clinched, as has the ability to show pressure games can be won on the road, the Lakers falling to the Denver Nuggets in overtime, 110-108, at Pepsi Center.

The Lakers hadn’t given up 100 points in any of their last 10 games, their best under-100 run since February 2002, but that ended almost as quickly as you could say 39-point first quarter.

The Nuggets, runaway leaders of the substandard Northwest Division, relied on Carmelo Anthony, which was acceptable enough, and the little-known Francisco Elson, which was a little bit harder to explain away for the Lakers. Anthony had 33 points and Elson, a third-year forward, had a career-high 21 points on eight-for-nine shooting.

With six games left in their regular season, the Lakers are one game ahead of eighth-place Sacramento and three ahead of ninth-place New Orleans in the Western Conference.

It won’t get any easier tonight in Phoenix, with the Suns averaging a league-best 108.3 points.

Kobe Bryant, coming off consecutive 43-point games, had 42 points on 13-for-32 shooting and only one assist in 46 minutes. Along the way, he broke Elgin Baylor’s team record for 40-point games in a season with his 24th such game.

His four-point play sent the game into overtime at 99-99.

Kwame Brown had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Lamar Odom had a foul-disrupted 39 minutes, totaling 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. He fouled out with 43.7 seconds left in overtime.

The Lakers showed something in coming back from an 18-point deficit in the first quarter, but they also showed they couldn’t quite finish.

Anthony’s 19-footer with 3.8 seconds left in overtime broke a 108-108 tie. Luke Walton’s 23-footer from the left side missed at the buzzer, officially ending an exhausting, but ultimately futile, effort.

“We want to get on the winning side of these because these are the games you have in playoffs,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said.

Despite never leading in regulation, the Lakers had their chances to be on the winning side.

Bryant’s dunk gave them their first lead, 101-99, with 4:18 left in overtime. Then Brown, not necessarily known for his passing skills, found Walton under the basket for an easy layup with 57 seconds left in overtime, giving the Lakers a 108-107 lead.

They also had chances to win in regulation, but Odom was short on an open 17-footer from the right wing with 25.9 seconds left.

“I should drive the ball,” Odom said. “I settled for taking the pull-up. In situations like that, they’re going to double Kobe, but somebody’s got to make a play.”

After Greg Buckner’s 15-footer was blocked by Walton, Bryant’s 22-footer at the regulation buzzer was off the mark.

Thursday’s game started with a bad Laker omen, the Nugget public-address announcer referring to Smush Parker by his given name, William. Then the Lakers decided not to wait for the third quarter to self-destruct, as they had done so often this season.

They tried to do it in the first quarter, giving up 12 fastbreak points in the first nine minutes -- Denver’s offense at the time: rebound, long outlet, easy layup -- as the Nuggets took a 39-23 lead.

The Lakers weren’t stung by Anthony, Andre Miller, Marcus Camby or even one-time “Kobe stopper” Ruben Patterson. Instead, it was Elson, who had 13 points in the first quarter, almost exclusively on dunks and layups.

“As I told them, the quicker you get behind, the more time you have to catch up,” Jackson said sarcastically.

Said Bryant: “Tonight, we just weren’t getting stops.”

The Lakers gradually closed the margin and sent the game into overtime by holding the Nuggets to six-for-22 shooting in the fourth quarter.