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Bryant poured in 49 points - one shy of his playoff career-high - to go along with 10 assists, carrying the Los Angeles Lakers past the visiting Denver Nuggets 122-107 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in their opening round Western Conference playoff series.

 "It doesn't matter to me what numbers I put up, I'm here to win," said Bryant, said hit 18-of-27 field goals. "When they backed off me, I just rose up and knocked down shots without a moment's hesitation.

 "When you simplify the game, take shots, it opens up the floor for everyone else. It's my responsibility when shots are there to knock them down."

   Spain's Pau Gasol had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the top-seeded Lakers while Luke Walton also scored 18 points off the bench.

 "I'm impressed, but I'm not surprised," Walton said. "This is Kobe pretty much every night, that's why we think he should be the league MVP.

 "He can take over a game at anytime and he still has 10 assists while getting us all involved. He did a great job making decisions out there tonight," Walton added.

 Bryant burned the Nuggets' man-to-man coverage for 25 points in the first half, including 20 in the opening quarter, sparking the Lakers to a 59-49 lead.

 In the third quarter, the Nuggets' went to a zone coverage, but Bryant crossed their strategy by setting up his teammates for easy baskets.

 "Everybody tried to zero in on me and take me out of my groove, but we're used to this," he said, "My teammates made cuts, that kind of softened it up for me to go back at it in the fourth quarter."

   The Lakers carried an 89-79 advantage into the final frame that was sliced to 98-93 with 7:16 remaining. However, Bryant ran off 19 points, opening up a 120-101 cushion, before leaving at the 2:02 mark to chants of "MVP, MVP," from the sold-out Staples' Centre crowd.

 "You just get into that kind of groove and my teammates were looking for me," Bryant explained. "When you get hot the ball finds you. I was able to knock down some shots and make some big plays for us."

   Allen Iverson led the eighth-seeded Nuggets with 31 points. Carmelo Anthony added 23 points, J.R. Smith had a career playoff high 21.

 "Kobe just had a big game, what can you do?" Iverson said. "Somebody gets in a groove like that and it's just hard to stop it. You could try anything. Tonight, the way he was going we could have put 10 people on the court and it and probably wouldn't have been able to stop him."

   The Nuggets will look to regroup and claw back into the series when they host game three on Saturday.

 "Our confidence is still high," Anthony said. "They did what they were supposed to do in winning these two home games, and now we have to do what we have to do."

In other NBA playoff action elsewhere:

Boston Celtics 96, Atlanta Hawks 77

   Freshly-crowned league defensive player of the year Kevin Garnett had 19 points with 10 rebounds and the top-seeded Celtics routed the visiting Hawks for the second straight game for a 2-0 advantage in the first round of their Eastern Conference series.

 Ray Allen scored 15 points, Paul Pierce followed with 14 while Rajon Rondo finished with 12 and eight assists for the Celtics, who dominated the opener 104-81.

 Marvin Williams and Josh Smith scored 13 points apiece for the eighth-seeded Hawks, who were held to 38 per cent (23-of-60) field goal shooting and committed 21 turnovers.

 Atlanta will host game three on Saturday.

Detroit Pistons 105, Philadelphia 76ers 88

   Rick Hamilton led five players in double figures with 20 points and the Pistons pounded the visiting 76ers in Game Two to level their Eastern Conference opening-round series.

 The second-seeded Pistons blew a 17-point lead and were stunned 90-86 in the opener. However, they led from start to finish and by as many as 26 in the bounce-back win against the seventh-seeded Sixers.

 "Game one was a big wake up call for us. We learned from it," said Pistons guard Chauncey Billups who had nine points. "You see the way we came out today. We were focused and locked in with the things that we had to do, that we emphasized over the last couple of days. We never let up."

   Antonio McDyess had 16 points with 12 rebounds while Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince also contributed 16 points apiece for the Pistons, who led 53-36 at halftime.

 Lou Williams led Philadelphia with a career playoff high 17 points and Andre Miller had 14.

 Philadelphia will host game three on Friday.