Lakers are in the running

If loud, bothersome hotel renovations and a frightful experience with charter-jet wobbles didn’t get the Lakers down, the Denver Nuggets certainly wouldn’t be up to the task.

The Lakers continued along their merry road with Kobe Bryant the distributor, destroying the Nuggets almost from the get-go, 123-104, Friday night at Staples Center.

The box score seemed almost upside down. Bryant had eight points and 10 assists and skated through his 28 minutes with ease, setting up teammates in a furious first quarter and watching as they did the scoring the rest of the way, not him.

Smush Parker had a season-high 23 points, Andrew Bynum had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Luke Walton had 18 points to end a turbulent, but successful, couple of days for the Lakers.

After slipping past Sacramento in an overtime thriller Thursday, they survived a bumpy, wind-affected flight back home. They finally landed at 2 a.m. Friday, some of them more jelly-legged than others.

Then again, they did get to sleep in their own beds, the definition of relief after being forced to listen to banging, drilling and hammering all day Thursday at the team hotel in Sacramento.

Just the same, Coach Phil Jackson canceled Friday morning’s shoot-around, gathering the team an hour earlier than usual before the game to go over a few video clips.

The footage from Friday’s game will be unique, to say the least.

The last time Bryant played as many minutes and had more assists than points was March 28, 1998, when he had two points and three assists against Utah. He was 19 at the time.

The last time he finished with single-digit scoring was April 1, 2004, when he had eight points in 42 minutes against Houston.

He had nine assists and no points in the first quarter Friday, partly mirroring a pattern against Sacramento in which he had no points and four assists in the first quarter. The Lakers (22-11) built sizable leads in each case, including a 29-13 edge against Denver with 4:41 left in the first quarter.

“Kobe facilitated a lot of things tonight,” Jackson said. “I know there’s some people out there that really wanted him to score ... but he did the right thing in the type of game that was being played. I think he felt very comfortable with that too.”

Indeed.

“It felt great,” Bryant said. “Fantastic. I said I needed a night off. You guys are working me too hard -- double overtime, triple overtime, overtime.

“In all seriousness, I’d much rather have this type of game, everybody just playing, having fun. It was the most fun we’ve had all year.”

The Lakers’ passing was a burst of beauty, with assists logged on 39 of their 47 field goals.

One notable play of many: After a Nuggets basket, Bryant hurled a deep pass to Walton, who touch-passed the ball to Parker for a first-quarter dunk.

“It’s contagious, man,” Walton said. “That’s the way the game’s supposed to be played. [Bryant] should have had, like, 16 assists. We blew a couple of them. I blew one or two myself.

“Whole defenses collapse on him because he’s such a dominant player. When he kicks it to us, we get wide-open shots, wide-open layups. It’s fun to play. It’s fun to watch. I think that’s the way as a team we will be the most successful, is if we play like that. Kobe’s talented enough to get us a win, doing it by himself, but when we get to the playoffs in the West, it’s got to be a team game. We’re talking playoffs around here.”

The Nuggets, still going without Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, couldn’t get their non-suspended big-name guys to make a shot. Allen Iverson had 16 points on five-for-17 shooting, and center Marcus Camby had 14 points on five-for-16 shooting.

Beforehand, Jackson wondered aloud if Bynum would be able to hack it in the second night of a back-to-back situation. He had played poorly in two other such situations as a starter earlier in the season, collecting only five points Nov. 1 against Golden State and two points Nov. 8 against Portland.

On Friday, he made eight of nine shots and was a force defensively, collecting six blocked shots.

“Players got the ball into him in great spots,” Jackson said. “He actually finished strong.”

Even Aaron McKie got into a game for the first time this season, checking in with 4:55 to play. He did not score, but it didn’t really matter. The Lakers had already taken another victory.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

KEYS TO THE GAME

* The Lakers had 39 assists, including 10 from Kobe Bryant and eight from Luke Walton. Every Lakers starter had at least three assists.

* Andrew Bynum was a factor in the second night of a back-to-back situation. He had something in almost every statistical category: 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, six blocked shots and a steal. Another important stat: Only two personal fouls in 29 minutes.

* Kobe Bryant finished with only eight points on two-for-nine shooting, but his nine assists in the first quarter set the tone.

-- MIKE BRESNAHAN