Nuggets soar in second half to surge past Lakers

DENVER (Reuters) - Carmelo Anthony scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as the Denver Nuggets blitzed the Los Angeles Lakers 105-79 on Friday.

In a rematch of last season's Western Conference finalists, the Nuggets shut down the Lakers in the third quarter where they outscored last season's NBA champions 29-8 to open an 87-64 advantage.

"I think our defense motivated everything," Nuggets coach George Karl told reporters. "Our defense created a lot of points. We double-teamed a little more aggressively; we were getting to (Andrew) Bynum and bothering Kobe (Bryant) a little bit."

Bynum had 19 points and 15 rebounds and Bryant added 19 points but did not score after halftime. T

he Lakers (7-2), playing in their second game in as many nights, ran out of gas down the stretch as their string of six successive wins came to an end.

Playing in his first home game this season, J.R. Smith scored 20 points off the bench as Denver (7-3) earned a measure of revenge against Los Angeles, who defeated them in six games during last year's playoffs.

Smith served a seven-game suspension to start the season due to off-court matters, and made four three-pointers in his third game back with the team.

Leading scorer Anthony got into foul trouble early on and played less than 12 minutes during the first half where the Nuggets still established a 58-56 halftime lead.

Anthony scored 10 of his team's first 12 points in the third and Denver used a quick 10-0 run to race ahead.

Facing Ron Artest, who was signed by Los Angeles in the offseason, Anthony made 11-for-20 shots and also displayed good defense with three steals.

"(My defense) is something I've been focused on more and my team needs," Anthony said. "My team doesn't need me to score 40 or 50 points, they need me to stop someone on the defensive end."

Los Angeles fell apart in the second half and shot just 35 percent from the field for the game.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)