Bryant picks up his first save

It might not happen as often this season, with all the depth and talent that has been stockpiled, but Kobe Bryant will still have to be on call in case the Lakers need to be bailed out.

Neither the Lakers nor Bryant could find their shooting touch through three quarters, but enough of it appeared for Bryant in the fourth to drive the Lakers to a 104-97 victory Saturday over the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center.

To call the victory “ugly” might even be insulting to the word itself, but Bryant’s 14 points in the final 6:51 allowed the Lakers to escape a dreadful shooting night in which they made only 37.9% of their attempts.

On one hand, the victory-parade planning can be put on hold for a while after the giddiness that the Lakers’ first two victories stirred up. On the other hand, the Lakers (3-0) won a grind-it-out game on the road against a fairly physical Denver front line, forcing the Nuggets to miss 13 of their last 19 shots.

“We need that,” said Andrew Bynum, who had only four points while battling foul trouble all night. “Maybe last year, I don’t know if we were tough enough mentally and defensively to pull that one out, so it’s good to know that we’re growing.”

Bryant, who finished with 33 points in 33 minutes, missed 10 of 17 shots before heating up shortly after checking into the game with 8:35 to play.

His three-pointer gave the Lakers the lead for good, 89-86, with just under seven minutes to play. Then he made a 17-footer from the left wing to extend the lead to 91-86. Then he began picking apart Denver guard Anthony Carter, driving past him for two layups in the final 3:13 to end the Nuggets’ night.

“I was ready to attack,” Bryant said. “A lot of nights in the first two games, my teammates really pulled us through those big victories, where I didn’t really have to the turn the jets on. But a game like tonight, where we struggled, we shoot 37%, and it was one of those games where we were stuck in the mud, then it’s my responsibility to try to get us going.”

Coming into the game, the Lakers had won seven in a row against the Nuggets, including a first-round sweep in last season’s playoffs.

“We hope it has a carry-over effect,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said before the game.

It didn’t in the first half.

Lamar Odom had three fouls in four minutes. Bynum had two points, three fouls and three turnovers.

The leading scorer in the first half wasn’t Bryant, Allen Iverson or Carmelo Anthony. It was Carter, who had 16 points as the Nuggets took a 52-46 halftime lead.

The Lakers won their first two games by an average of 29 points, but they were tied going into the fourth quarter against Denver, 76-76.

Across the board, the Lakers’ shooting was woeful. Josh Powell was their only player to make more than half his shots, hitting two of three.

Jordan Farmar made one of eight shots, Vladimir Radmanovic made two of seven and Odom made three of nine.

Bynum took one shot the whole night. He missed it.

The Lakers’ reserves, a fountain of strength over the first two games, were a non-entity Saturday, outscoring Denver’s reserves by a nondescript 31-25.

In the end, really, the Lakers were fortunate that Bryant was there.

“Kobe picked us up by the boot straps and carried us home,” Jackson said.

The Nuggets (1-2) didn’t shoot very well either. Anthony had 13 points on five-for-15 shooting and Iverson had 13 points on three-for-eight shooting. Carter made eight of nine shots.

The Lakers now face almost an entire week of down time, a rarity so early in the season.

They don’t play again until Wednesday against the Clippers and then don’t play after that until next Sunday against Houston.

Jackson canceled practice today, the better to rest up and, perhaps, take comfort in knowing they still have one of the game’s best closers when things aren’t tilting their direction.

“Nights when they need me to do it, hopefully it’ll be there,” Bryant said.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com