<div align="center"> Game Info: 10:30 pm EST Fri Jan 5, 2007</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After facing his former team earlier in the week, Allen Iverson hopes he can finally put his past to rest and focus on winning with his new team as the Denver Nuggets seek a rare road win against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center on Friday. The Nuggets (16-13) have lost seven straight and 17 of their last 18 road games to the Lakers (21-11) since the 1996-97 season. The lone win during that stretch was on Jan 22, 2002, when Voshon Lenard scored 29 points in a 107-91 victory. Iverson has done well against the Lakers, averaging 28.1 points in 19 games. He is coming off a 30-point performance against his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, who handed the Nuggets a 108-97 defeat Tuesday. Iverson, who criticized Sixers management before the game, went 10-of-24 from the floor before being ejected with 1:44 to play after receiving his second technical. He made seven of his first nine shots and had nine assists, but also had a game-high seven turnovers. "I thought he was a little excited with the turnovers early in the first half and then not being able to make shots, not only he but everybody," Nuggets coach George Karl said. Iverson's arrival hasn't provided the Nuggets the bounce the team hoped as it continues to ride out the suspensions of star forward Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith. Denver is 2-4 in a stretch that included five home games since acquiring Iverson, who thinks finally getting past the distractions of playing the 76ers for the first time will help him focus on winning. "Honestly I hope it goes away, but every time we play the Sixers, I know it is going to come back," Iverson said. "I just want to be a Denver Nugget and not dwell on things that happened in Philadelphia. I owe it to my teammates to just play basketball. I was frustrated tonight because I didn't play as well as I can play." The Nuggets are 7-6 on the road, but will open a four-game homestand following this game. The Lakers are coming off a 132-128 overtime road win over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday. Kobe Bryant scored 42 points to help Los Angeles reocver from blowing a 21-point lead. He assisted on Smush Parker's game-tying shot in the final second of regulation and scored on the opening possession of overtime to give the Lakers the lead for good. "We should be able to get layups every time if they double Kobe at halfcourt," Lakers forward Luke Walton said. "Kobe did a great job trusting Smush and Smush made a pretty tough layup." Bryant was scoreless for the first 16 minutes of Thursday's game, and missed a jumper with 10 seconds left that led to the Kings taking a six-point lead with six seconds remaining. However, Sasha Vujacic hit a 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds and Bryant fed Parker for the game-tying layup with 0.1 seconds left. The Lakers guard is averaging 40 points in his last four games. The team is missing several key players due to injury, including Kwame Brown (ankle), Chris Mihm (ankle surgery) and Lamar Odom (sprained knee ligament), putting extra pressure on Bryant, who has never shied away from taking on the team's workload. He did receive some help on Thursday from Walton, who had 16 points, Andrew Bynum, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Brian Cook, who scored a season-high 26 points. Bryant averaged 37.3 points against the Nuggets last season. </div> Link Iverson comes to town tonight. Discuss game here
Kobe had nine assists in the first 11 minutes. Hope he didn't get too injured when he crashed to the floor.
Kobe should rest his knee as much as he can now. He still lacks the explosive moves and fadeaway jumpshots he had last season. I think his knees are still only 80%. But consider he is still having 29ppg, it is amazing.
Bynum with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks while shooting 8-9 with 3 assits, all in just 29 minutes! The kid is a BEAST!
<div class="quote_poster">Laker_fan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Bynum with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks while shooting 8-9 with 3 assits, all in just 29 minutes! The kid is a BEAST!</div> But he is still inconsistent and not confident enough.
You know it's a good night when McKie and Shamu both get some burn. 39 Assists! I completely underestimated the depth of our team. Dallas will be a real test though, let's do this!
<div class="quote_poster">TopLake Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">But he is still inconsistent and not confident enough.</div> He's also obly 19 years old and hasn't played College ball. Granted he's inconsistent, but if you look at the last few games, he's showing some consistency.
Anyone see Turiaf out there last night? Wow. The guy has just become my favorite Laker. Every possession he was out there hustling, and there was one stretch in the 3rd where Turiaf got offensive rebounds in like 5 straight possessions. The guy was a freaking beast
This team definately does have depth shape. We don't have name-brand depth like San Antonio, Detroit, Miami or Dallas but we have a bunch of no-namers who can definately play. The Lakers really have assembled a pretty solid group of role players, who are beginning to develop into something special. I was really happy with the win last night especially considering the amount of energy the Lakers had to put in to get the win in Sac town.
<div class="quote_poster">ilive4ball Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">This team definately does have depth shape. We don't have name-brand depth like San Antonio, Detroit, Miami or Dallas but we have a bunch of no-namers who can definately play. The Lakers really have assembled a pretty solid group of role players, who are beginning to develop into something special. I was really happy with the win last night especially considering the amount of energy the Lakers had to put in to get the win in Sac town.</div> Not many teams can go 12 or 13 deep like the Lakers can at full strength. I love the versatility of this group, and the system allows interchangeable parts, without a major dropoff. Now we just need to turn Shamu and McKie into one more productive player. I'd still like to add a SF/PF combo player to the roster or another big man.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Not many teams can go 12 or 13 deep like the Lakers can at full strength. I love the versatility of this group, and the system allows interchangeable parts, without a major dropoff.</div>True but Phoenix and Dallas epitomize that kind of depth even more. Sunday's game is going to be HOT.
