Nuggets win dims Bryant milestone
LOS ANGELES: Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby led the Denver Nuggets to a 111-105 road victory over the Lakers on Tuesday, in a game where Los Angeles' Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to reach the 19,000-point plateau.
Anthony scored 31 points and Camby added 21, 20 rebounds and six blocked shots as the Nuggets won in Los Angeles for only the second time in their last 20 attempts to move within one and a half games of the sixth-placed Lakers in the Western Conference.
Nuggets coach George Karl missed the game as his son underwent surgery for the removal of cancerous lymph nodes, leaving his assistant Adrian Dantley in charge.
Bryant, who had 39 points in the game, reached his points milestone at 28 years and 223 days, eclipsing Michael Jordan's mark of 29 years and 62 days.
Allen Iverson added 20 points and 10 assists as Denver also overcame a triple-double by Lamar Odom - 17 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists - to hand the Lakers a third loss in four games.
Dantley picked up the victory a day after finding out he did not make the NBA Hall of Fame, against Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson, who was voted in.
"I got a win against a Hall of Famer, and I didn't make the Hall of Fame," said Dantley. "I thought I'd be a Hall of Famer today, too. Pretty good victory. But that's (Jackson) the best coach of all-time."
Agencies
(China Daily 04/05/2007 page24)
