Final Score: Lakers bench Nuggets 122-103

What a difference a game makes ... again.

Three days after being involved in one of the worst games of basketball ever, which came directly after their best game of the season in Dallas, the Los Angeles Lakers once again exploded to the tune of 122 points and easily defeated the Denver Nuggets 122-103. The unlikely dynamite were two members of LA's much maligned bench, Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison. Meeks hit five three-pointers in the 2nd quarter alone, and scored 21 points on 7-9 shooting (7-8 from distance). That would normally be a guarantee for the best Lakers bench performance of the month, but Antawn Jamison ensured Meeks couldn't even take the honors on the night. Jamison poured in a team high 33 points and pulled down 12 boards. Before tonight, the Lakers bench averaged 21.1 points per game. Shaving the tenth of a point, both players scored that much or more by themselves tonight.

And they weren't alone. The Lakers tied a team record by hitting 17 three-pointers, including a fairly hilarious end of game bomb by Dwight Howard, of all people, to tie the record. Dwight was also the reason why everyone had so much space, scoring 16 points in the first quarter alone and forcing Denver to collapse the entire rest of the game. Oh, and Howard also pulled down 20 boards to go along with his 28 points in 32 (!!!) minutes, missing a fair bit of time in the 2nd quarter after picking up a particularly difficult cut on his left eyelid.

It was that kind of night for the Lakers. Even with relatively poor showings from Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant (although both did contribute 8 assists to the cause), the result was rarely in doubt. It's pretty safe to say that the Lakers will probably win any time they get 50 points off the bench, no matter how many players score them.

So continues the wild ride that is the Los Angeles Lakers. Has any team experienced a greater three game divergence? The Lakers had an offensive rating of 110.5 against Dallas last Saturday, followed up by a 79.7 OR against Indiana on Tuesday. Tonight's performance? A cool 131 points per 100 possessions. If the Lakers keep up this sine wave they've got us riding, we might be in for the worst offensive performance in the team's history on Sunday. Or maybe Tuesday was an outlier in the midst of a new offensive juggernaut. As of this moment, the MDA era seems to be going alright.

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