DENVER - The Los Angeles Lakers opened a season-high six-game trip Friday night with a rare win in Denver, where the Nuggets were bleary-eyed and, in Danilo Gallinari's case, blurry-eyed.

Lakers coach Mike Brown was simply red-faced after a non-call in the waning seconds gave Denver one last shot at the victory.

Andrew Bynum scored 22 points and Kobe Bryant added 20 in their 93-89 win that wasn't secured until Al Harrington missed a 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left that would have put Denver ahead.

"A step-back, that's my favorite shot," said Harrington, who hit two big 3-pointers earlier in the fourth quarter. "I thought it was going to go in."

Matt Barnes was fouled on the rebound and sank two free throws with two-tenths of a second left.

Pau Gasol added 14 points and 17 rebounds for the Lakers, who won for the third time in 10 road games this season and prevailed in Denver for only the second time in their last seven trips to the Pepsi Center.

The Lakers took control after Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov rolled his left ankle after scoring a bucket early in the second half. He was helped to the locker room by Chris Andersen and Julyan Stone without putting any pressure on his left foot and didn't return. The Nuggets said X-rays were negative.

His coach, George Karl, came by his locker after the game and asked how he was doing.

"Could be better," said Mozgov, who wasn't putting weight on the foot.

Mozgov was injured when he tried to hustle back on defense.

Two minutes later, Denver's leading scorer, Danilo Gallinari, was accidentally poked in his left eye by World Peace and retreated to the locker room for a few minutes to replace his contact while the Lakers put the finishing touches on a 10-2 run.

Gallinari returned to the court, but sat out the final six minutes with blurry vision. He was held to six points on 1-of-9 shooting.

Associated Press

(China Daily 02/05/2012 page7)