This was not exactly the new look Carmelo Anthony was talking about.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and the Los Angeles Lakers nearly became the first team in three years to hold Anthony to single digits in a 104-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.

Anthony, who declared last month, "You will see a different me," this season thanks to a focus on defense, finally found his rhythm in the fourth quarter, but that's when Bryant scored 14 points to fend off the fatigued Nuggets.

"We were stuck in the mud, and it's my responsibility to get it going," Bryant said.

It was the Nuggets who looked like they were stuck in quicksand by game's end. They had gotten in late following an overtime win over the Clippers at the Staples Center-a game the well-rested Lakers watched from their Denver hotel rooms Friday night.

"I guess they were a little bit tired," Pau Gasol said.

And 'Melo was more than a little bit rusty.

Coming off a two-game suspension, Anthony scored 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. He made two 3-pointers with under a minute left to extend his NBA-best streak of consecutive games in double figures to 208.

"I was a little rusty out there," Anthony said. "Good to get that one game under my belt."

Anthony, who ditched his trademark cornrows for a close-cropped cut, was held to a single bucket until sinking consecutive baskets to help the Nuggets slice it to 93-91 with 4 minutes left. He fired up an airball from beyond the arc on Denver's next possession, and Bryant responded with a basket at the other end to make it 95-91.

Denver (1-2) never got closer as the Lakers, who trailed most of the game before taking control in the fourth quarter, improved to 3-0.

The first half of this one was beyond frustrating. Those refs weren't letting the Lakers break a sweat without blowing their whistles. Half of the Lakers had 3 fouls before halftime. They did a great job of adjusting their game in the second half, though. I thought the Lakers still played pretty poorly, though. I think they had a shooting percentage of something like 37% for most of the game. Still, they managed to pull out a win. Good for them!

Lakers record: 3-0

Down after one quarter, two and even three, the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves in an unfamiliar place.

Yet even with the Dallas Mavericks getting terrific games out of Jason Kidd and Erick Dampier, Kobe Bryant and friends found a way to pull out another one.

Trevor Ariza turned an offensive rebound into an emphatic, go-ahead dunk early in the fourth quarter and added an equally emphatic block in the final minute to help the Lakers pull out a 106-99 victory over the Mavericks on Tuesday night. Los Angeles improved to 6-0, its best start since going 7-0 in 2001-02-which also was the last time the Lakers won the championship.

"Nobody panicked," said Bryant, who scored nine of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. "We just kept at it."

The Lakers went into the fourth quarter trailing for the first time all season. But they also were in the midst of a 30-9 spurt that would put them ahead for good. Ariza celebrated his go-ahead dunk before the ball was even through the cylinder and Carlisle was calling a timeout just as quickly.

Bryant kept the roll going, but Dallas got back to within 99-97 in the final minutes.

Nowitzki passed up a potential tying shot, giving the ball to Stackhouse, who missed. After a defensive stand, Nowitzki shot an airball on a 3-pointer. After yet another defensive stop, Nowitzki passed to Stackhouse in the corner and Ariza came flying in to swat a 3-point try out of bounds with 1 second left on the shot clock. The Mavs wound up with a shot clock violation, then Pau Gasol scored a three-point play on the other end to seal the victory.

"It was a phenomenal block," Bryant said. "He's just a tremendous athlete. Our bench was incredible. That's the kind of team we have. We pick each other up. They came in and gave us a huge boost."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson went to his bench earlier than normal and left them in once they started rallying.

Ariza scored a season-high 13 points and Lamar Odom added 12. That was a nice supplement to the 27 points from Bryant and 22 from Gasol. Gasol also had 11 rebounds. Andrew Bynum had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

"That's what we do, we try to change the pace of the game, play with high energy," Ariza said of the Lakers' second team.

Well, once again the Lakers rallied from being behind to getting a very impressive win (not by 29 points this time, though). I really thought this was going to turn into the Lakers first loss this season, from the way the first 3 quarters went. Even with the close call at the end, they could've lost this one. It's great seeing these Lakers work so hard for these wins. Ariza was on a roll tonight! I'm so glad he's healthy again, and Jackson is giving him more minutes.

Tomorrow night is probably going to be another nail-biter.

Lakers record: 6-0

The new-look Detroit Pistons still have the Los Angeles Lakers' number.

Rasheed Wallace had 25 points and 13 rebounds, Allen Iverson added 25 points and the Pistons handed the Lakers their first loss of the season, 106-95 Friday night.

The win was the Pistons' eighth in the last 10 meetings.

Kobe Bryant scored 29 points for the Lakers, but went 12-of-30 from the floor.

"We just played a good all-around game," Iverson said after the Pistons won for the third time since his arrival from Denver five games ago. "It's just about playing basketball, understanding what we want to do on the basketball court.

In winning their first seven, the Lakers had averaged a league-high 104.7 points and held opponents to a league-low 86.7.

The Pistons obviously beat them on both ends of the court, with Los Angeles becoming the final NBA team to lose this season.

"We just played defense," Iverson said. "We made them take tough, contested shots. When they missed, we got out and ran and took advantage. On the offensive end, we just attacked all night."

Gee, and I was really hoping the Lakers wouldn't lose this season.

Honestly, they didn't play good enough to win. And unlike their latest trend, they were not able to stage an impressive 4th quarter comeback this time. The Pistons got that lead, and like the good team that they are, they held onto it until the end.

I'm sure the Lakers will make the proper adjustments and win another 3 or 4 in a row....before they get overconfident and lose again.

Lakers record: 7-1

The Los Angeles Lakers went to their inside game against the smaller Chicago Bulls. The strategy worked to perfection.

Pau Gasol scored 24 of his season-high 34 points in the first half, Andrew Bynum added 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, and the Lakers rebounded from their first loss of the season with a 116-109 victory over the Bulls on Tuesday night.

"We wanted to go inside, and we did," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We just kept rolling. We had a size advantage."

The Lakers scored 64 points in the paint, with Gasol shooting 14-of-21 and Bynum going 5-of-10.

"It was written up at the beginning of the game," Gasol said, nodding toward the greaseboard in the Lakers' locker room. "Me and Andrew, it's hard to match up. I think we should make a consistent effort to do that every game. You've got two guys who can produce. They're easy looks, 10-footers- high-percentage shots."

Gasol's previous season high was 22 points-two fewer than he scored in the first half of this game.

Kobe Bryant added 21 points, five rebounds and six assists for the Lakers (8-1), who had three full days to contemplate a 106-95 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

"We wanted to play a little better, and we did that," Bryant said. "We shot the ball a lot better than we did last game."

The Lakers shot 47 percent compared to 42 percent against the Pistons.

Jordan Farmar added 12 points for the Lakers and Lamar Odom had 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks before fouling out with 8:30 remaining.

Odom said it was important for the Lakers to bounce back after losing to the Pistons, but added: 'This game is behind us that quick. It's time to move on."

The Lakers will be awfully busy the rest of the month. After playing nine games in 23 days to begin the season, they'll play six games in 11 days starting Thursday night in Phoenix.

It was great seeing Gasol having such a strong game. I hope it's a sign of things to come.

I was really not expecting such a strong outing from this Chicago team. I can't remember when I've watched an NBA team with so few recognizable faces on it! Other than Lindsay Hunter, who is pushing 40, I think, most of these other guys are all new to me. This new kid Derrick Rose is going to be a keeper. I wonder how long he'll stay with Chicago.

Nice to see the Lakers back in the Win column. Interesting how these schedules work themselves out, though. The Lakers have played 9 games, where the rest of the teams have played anywhere up to 12 and 13 games at this point. Seems a bit screwy to me.

Lakers record: 8-1

Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 29 points in the third quarter before sitting out the fourth, Andrew Bynum had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 104-90 on Friday night.

The defending Western Conference champion Lakers (10-1) are off to their best start through 11 games since the 2001-02 championship season, when they won 16 of their first 17. All of their victories have been decided by seven or more points-which was their winning margin against four teams.

Nene led the way for Denver with 18 points. Chauncey Billups made his first three shots, but was 3-for-9 the rest of the way and finished with 15 points and nine assists before going to the bench with 10:39 remaining.

The Lakers never trailed in the opener of a five-game homestand, making 14 of 21 shots in the first quarter and bolting to a 35-20 lead.

Anthony had a miserable first half, shooting 4-for-13 and committing three turnovers in a 2:47 span. The Lakers used a 20-6 run to increase a 13-point lead to 59-32 with 4:26 left in the second quarter.

Bynum helped ignite the rally with a pair of dunks 35 seconds apart, one of them off an alley-oop lob from Sasha Vujacic. Pau Gasol capped the run with a dunk after reserve Josh Powell blocked a shot by Kenyon Martin at the other end.

The Nuggets had one brief competitive stretch at the start of the third quarter, slicing a 20-point halftime deficit to 71-60 with a 13-4 run capped by Dahntay Jones' layup with 6:53 left in the period.

But the Lakers responded with a 14-2 surge capped by Bryant's 17-foot running jumper with 2:18 left in the quarter. Denver got no closer than 14 points on a 3-pointer by J.R. Smith with 4:40 to play.

Bryant, who won back-to-back scoring titles immediately preceding last season's MVP campaign, sat out the fourth quarter after playing 29 minutes. The only time he has reached the 30-point mark this season was Nov. 1 at Denver, when he had 33 to help beat the Nuggets 104-97 in their final game with Iverson.

I think this was about the best that I've seen the Lakers play as a team this year. And that's saying a lot!

They took on a very strong team, and made their win look easy. Each one of these Lakers are playing very impressively this early in the season. I continue to hope they just stay healthy.

Lakers record: 10-1

When Pau Gasol made his Lakers debut back in February following his trade from the Memphis Grizzlies, he led Los Angeles to a 15-point victory at New Jersey on a night when Kobe Bryant had the lowest-scoring game of his MVP campaign.

Things looked eerily similar against the Nets on Tuesday night in the rematch at Staples Center. Gasol had 26 points and eight rebounds before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the defending Western Conference champions overcame Bryant's shooting woes in a 120-93 rout that improved the NBA's best record to 12-1.

"I think it's a good sign and it's a healthy sign," coach Phil Jackson said after the Lakers' most lopsided victory ever over the Nets. "But we want Kobe to shoot the ball well and have big games, obviously. That's the focal part of our offense-to get things through him. We want to have him be the threat, so that everybody has to overplay and always be concerned with him. That makes everybody else have an easier game."

Bryant had difficulty with Vince Carter's defense, going 5-for-17 from the field in 28 minutes and finishing with 12 points in the Lakers' fifth straight victory. He shot 1-for-9 in the first half and didn't get to the free-throw line until 1:11 remained in the second quarter. The last time they met, the two-time scoring champion was outscored 27-6 by Carter and shot 3-for-13 with no free-throw attempts.

"It just shows you their balance," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "I think that's the greatness of the Lakers. Kobe is obviously one of the elite players in this league, but they have so much around him. They are a high-level team. They're 12-1, and they have Gasol from the beginning now."

Another very impressive win! Really interesting to see these opposing teams come out with great energy and bringing their A game to compete with these Lakers, and then see them get so frustrated and play so much worse towards the end when the Lakers go on their 4th quarter runs. Vince Carter looked miserable sitting on the bench in those last few minutes.

Lakers record: 12-1