He wasn't named last season's NBA MVP for nothing and he definitely showed that down the stretch against the Nuggets in Denver's home opener as Kobe Bryant torched Allen Iverson and the Nuggets for 33 points.
When you hear that Kobe Bryant scored 33 points normally it isn't anything to get excited about as he seems to do that on a nightly basis, but the amazing part about this scoring performance was that he scored 14 of those points in the fourth quarter to get the Lakers their third win in a row to start the season.
The only positive for the Nuggets coming out of this game is that they have been the only team out of three that have actually been able to give the Los Angeles Lakers a run for their money.
It is not like the Denver was never in the game like the last two opponents of the Lakers (Blazers, Clippers), but they failed to close the deal after being ahead in the fourth quarter. One of the major reasons for the Nuggets struggling to close out the Lakers, despite Kobe Bryant late game surge, was Carmelo Anthony not a having a great game at all coming off his two game suspension.
Melo went a pitiful 5 of 15 from the floor scoring only 13 points and finishing the game with 5 turnovers. The only real bright spot for the Nuggets was point guard Anthony Carter scored 20 points on only 8 of 9 shooting, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
As for the rest of the Nuggets, Allen Iverson had a very unimpressive performance with only 13 points and 4 turnovers, but hit did dish out 7 assists. Keyon Martin had a decent game on the offensive end scoring 18 points, but left the game with what looked like a hamstring injury after a monster dunk.
Hopefully this a good learning experience for the Nuggets. They need to close out games like this, a win over the Lakers at home would have been huge, but they just couldn't stop Kobe down the stretch.
NEXT MATCH UP: Denver Nuggets @ Golden State Warriors Weds. Nov. 5th 8:30pm MT
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