Nugget No-Nos

Kobe did plenty of work at Staples Tuesday night.

Bryant scored 18 points in the fourth quarter as part of his 40, giving David Stern and ESPN execs reason to exhale after Game 1 of the Western Conference finals and the possibility that the Lakers won’t  make their appointed rounds with the LeBrons in The Finals on ABC next month.

Melo showed true grit and moxie — not to mention his jumper and muscle underneath — in tussling with Bryant (the USA Basketball brothers showed Vince McMahon and Nuggets and Altitude owner Stan Kroenke how it could be done in a smackdown for the right to host Game 4 or USA Network’s WWW Monday Night Raw at the Pepsi Center on May 25).  Anthony finished with 39, but Denver needed more from Mr. Big Shot.  Despite draining a pair of late threes, Chauncey’s going to have shoot more than 13 times, score more than 18 and play the entire fourth quarter if Denver’s going to do something besides make this interesting.

All told, George Karl’s crew clanked a dozen from the charity stripe, including three from Billups, when the Nuggets were in control at the end of the first quarter.

Still, Denver had a chance until Kenyon Martin punked out on an awful reach-in foul against Bryant with the game knotted at 99. After the Black Mamba nailed that pair from the line, Anthony Carter lobbed an inbounds pass that Trevor Ariza stole to all but put this one in Jerry Buss’s pocket.

ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy even extended on-air kudos to Big Chief Triangle for changing his usual smoke signals and fouling J.R. Smith with the Lakers up by three within the final few seconds.

Add it all up and the Lakers beat Denver for the 11th straight time in the post-season.

Time for the King to hold court tomorrow night against Superman as TNT, coming off ratings records for the NBA’s second round, tips its coverage of the Eastern Conference finals.