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Denver • Ty Lawson scored 32 points, fellow spark plug Corey Brewer added 18 and the Denver Nuggets forced a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series with a dominating 113-96 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
The free-wheeling Nuggets are one win from running the lumbering Lakers right out of the playoffs.
Kobe Bryant followed his 43-point outburst in Game 5 with 31 points in 3½ quarters despite a sour stomach that prevented him from attending the Lakers' morning shootaround and forced him to take intravenous fluids all day. He took a seat for good with Los Angeles down 101-73 with 7:52 remaining.
The younger but deeper Nuggets have won three of four since dropping the first two games in Los Angeles, and they did it by once again outrunning and outgunning their star-studded counterparts.
Lawson's 32 points were a career-playoff high, besting his old mark of 27 set last year.
"This is the biggest game he's ever played in, and Saturday will be even bigger," Nuggets coach George Karl said.
Andrew Bynum pulled down 16 rebounds but made just 4 of 11 shots for 11 points for the Lakers, and Pau Gasol was just 1 of 10 from the field, finishing with three points and three rebounds.
"Kobe being dehydrated and all that and sick as a dog, coming out and trying to will us to a win, it's disappointing to watch him give that type of effort ... and we don't get it from everybody," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "Our second- and third-best players are Drew and Pau, and the reality is both of those guys got to play better in order for us to win."
Earlier Thursday, Nuggets reserve center Chris "Birdman" Andersen was excused indefinitely from all team-related activities after Douglas County sheriff's deputies searched his home as part of an investigation by the department's Internet Crimes Against Children unit.