The Los Angeles Lakers breezed to a 110-99 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday, the defending NBA champions easing clear in the first half for a seventh straight win.
Andrew Bynum had 21 points and nine rebounds and Kobe Bryant added 18 before sitting out the fourth quarter as the Lakers improved to a league-best 14-3.
The Los Angeles defense has improved in the last month, holding opponents under 100 points in each of the seven wins.
The depleted Hornets were unable to break down Los Angeles and their cause was not helped by the absence of All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who is out indefinitely, and forward Peja Stojakovic, missing a second straight game for personal reasons.
Rookie guard Darren Collison scored 20 points and Emeka Okafor had 17 and 12 rebounds for the Hornets (7-11), who made the final score look respectable with a 30-20 fourth quarter after trailing by 20 at half-time.
The game spun out of control for New Orleans in the second quarter, where the Lakers went on a 21-4 run en route to a 62-42 half-time lead.
Los Angeles used a balanced attack and got 16 points from Ron Artest and 14 from Pau Gasol, who has taken the team to another level in the last six games since he made his delayed season debut because of a hamstring injury.
Thanks to a generous early schedule, the Lakers have played just four road games this season and are two games into a five-game homestand.
Meanwhile, the Miami Heat took control from the start to record a 107-100 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
Michael Beasley scored a season-high 27 points and Dwyane Wade had 18 points and 12 assists for Miami.
Beasley was 8 of 15 from the field and 11 of 12 for free throws as the Heat shot 53.3 percent from the field.
Greg Oden grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds and scored 13 points for Portland, which shot .391 in losing its third consecutive game.
CELTICS 108, BOBCATS 90
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Boston cruised past Charlotte for its fifth straight victory.
Ray Allen broke out of his shooting slump with 27 points and Kendrick Perkins added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who had little trouble slowing the Bobcats, who had won four straight.
Entering shooting 30 percent from 3-point range, Allen took only nine shots, but hit 5 of 6 3-pointers, including one from behind the plane of the backboard with 1 second left to give the Celtics a 62-39 half-time lead.
Charlotte never recovered as Gerald Wallace scored just five points after getting into early foul trouble.
NUGGETS 135, WARRIORS 107
In Denver, the home team had their biggest score of the season to record an easy win over Golden State.
Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points and Chauncey Billups had 22 to be among seven Nuggets in double figures.
Anthony Morrow’s 27 points led the Warriors, who fell to 2-8 on the road.
Up by 14 at half-time, the Nuggets extended their lead to 107-84 by the end of the third quarter.
In other games it was:
• Knicks 126, Suns 99
• Wizards 106, Raptors 102
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