Lakers answer Nuggets’ surge

Kobe Bryant was sick, and injured, and it wasn’t that long ago that the Lakers were considered day to day as well.

But Bryant ignored fatigue from the stomach flu, brushed off a first-quarter shoulder injury, and received a notable degree of support from his teammates while he sat out with foul trouble, all of which allowed the Lakers to snare a 111-107 victory Wednesday over the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.

Bryant had 25 points, including six in the final 1:42 to somehow offset Allen Iverson’s 51 points and help give the Lakers another quality victory, not to mention a sweep of a quick two-game trip.

Vladimir Radmanovic had a significant hand in just about everything, scoring 21 points and making six of nine from three-point range, and Derek Fisher was steady with 20 points.

The near future now looks a little more tolerable for the Lakers, who were running in place at 9-8 before the trip but now have time to rest, heal, and whatever else they need to do with only one game in the next seven days.

That they beat a team with an 8-2 home record, on the second night of a back-to-back situation, with Kwame Brown and Ronny Turiaf at home and Andrew Bynum barely back from stomach flu, could not go unnoticed.

That they also had three players score 20 or more points for the first time since November 2006 was similarly significant.

“Touching the ball, everyone got involved,” said forward Lamar Odom, who had 17 points.

The franchise went flickering before the Lakers’ eyes when Bryant went down hard after being tripped up by Eduardo Najera while dribbling down court with 2.5 seconds left in the first quarter.

He was literally face-down on the court for a minute, his nose pressed against the hardwood, before trainer Gary Vitti carefully helped him up. Bryant went to the bench, his face scrunched up in pain, and was diagnosed with a bruised left shoulder.

He returned with 6:45 left in the second quarter.

“If it’s something that is just achy, you just play through that. I’m not going to be a wimp because I’ve got a little ‘owie’ in my shoulder,” he said.

Bryant didn’t see much of the third quarter, and it had nothing to do with his shoulder. He picked up his fourth foul 38 seconds into the quarter and was a spectator until the fourth.

Fisher had eight points in the third and Jordan Farmar had six to keep the Lakers within striking range. The score was tied, 88-88, going into the fourth quarter.

“We played an incredible game offensively with Kobe in foul trouble,” Odom said. “It was [potentially] a 20-point loss, and everybody helped out.”

Radmanovic kept the Lakers afloat in the first half, scoring 17 points and making five three-point shots. “That’s what I do for a living,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t really go in, but we played team basketball and a lot of guys got it going tonight.”

Including Bynum, who missed Tuesday’s victory in Minnesota. He had a series of twos and threes across the stat sheet -- two points, two rebounds, three assists, two steals, three blocked shots, three fouls -- but he blocked Carmelo Anthony’s shot with 1:28 to play and Bryant scored on a finger roll at the other end for a 106-102 lead.

“I actually still feel terrible,” said Bynum, who played 26 minutes. “But I wanted to go out there and give us some defensive support.”

Iverson had 33 points in the first half, blowing through the Lakers until Bryant was told to stop him, and did . . . sort of, holding him to six points in the last six minutes of the half. It wasn’t enough to prevent Iverson from tying a career high for points in the first half.

Iverson scored 16 points in the third quarter but only two in the fourth quarter. He played all 48 minutes.

“We had to absorb a lot of points from Iverson,” Coach Phil Jackson said.

In the end, Bryant was there, as was a small “Ko-be, Ko-be” chant in one corner of the arena. Bryant’s 20-footer from the left side gave the Lakers a 108-104 lead with 35.3 seconds left.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com