Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant puts up a shot as Denver Nuggets forward Renaldo Balkman defends during the first half of Thursday's game in Los Angeles.
LOS ANGELES – Kobe Bryant scored 33 points, Pau Gasol added 27 points and 19 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed back center Andrew Bynum in a 116-102 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
The win was the fifth straight for the Lakers (63-16) and tied them in wins with the idle Cleveland Cavaliers (63-15) for the league lead.
Bynum, playing in his first game since tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Jan. 31, had 16 points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes.
Wearing a black brace on the knee, Bynum was greeted with cheers when his name was announced in the starting lineup. Another loud eruption came when the Lakers’ announcer asked fans to welcome back the center.
Carmelo Anthony had 23 points to lead the Nuggets, who lost for the first time in nine games and failed to secure the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. J.R. Smith had 19 points, while Chauncey Billups and Nene each added 17.
The Nuggets got within six with 8:12 remaining when Nene scored a bucket in the paint, but Bryant turned it on. He scored six straight, including a bank shot from the left side of the key that didn’t look like it had a chance, to give the Lakers an insurmountable 107-93 lead.
One of the story lines coming into the game focused on the Nuggets and their improved defense, but Los Angeles easily topped 100 points with three starters scoring in double digits.
Bynum, who started in place of Lamar Odom, didn’t shy from contact and bumped up against Denver’s “bigs” throughout. It took him a while to get comfy in his first start, though, and he was 0 for 2 in the first quarter while losing the ball twice.
He scored nine points in the third quarter and showed flashes of his old self when finishing shots, and wound up 7 for 11 from the field.
Rockets 115, Kings 98: At Sacramento, Calif., Ron Artest scored 26 points and the Rockets used a big third quarter to beat the Kings for their third straight win.
Yao Ming had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Rockets, who trailed by five at halftime but dominated the third quarter, taking an 11-point lead that never dipped back into single digits in the fourth.
Luis Scola scored 15 points for Houston, Von Wafer had 13 and Shane Battier added 12.
Spencer Hawes had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the struggling Kings, while Francisco Garcia and Andres Nocioni scored 17 each and rookie Jason Thompson added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Bulls 113, 76ers 99: At Chicago, Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas each scored 24 points, and the Bulls reduced their magic number to one over Charlotte and moved a half game ahead of Detroit in the East.
Thomas set a season high for points while converting a career-best 14 of 14 free throws. He scored 10 points in the third quarter and Gordon added seven as the Bulls turned a halftime tie into an 82-72 lead before pulling away for their 13th home win in 14 games.