Halftime: 5 technicals, 2 flagrant fouls, 1 near fight

SAN DIEGO -- The Lakers and Denver Nuggets played a rough-and-tumble first half that tested the patience of the players, coaches and, above all, the replacement referees. In the end, no punches were thrown, but Lamar Odom and Denver's Chris Andersen nearly came to blows. Odom and the Nuggets' Kenyon Martin also nearly squared off. Odom and the Lakers were upset with Andersen, who set a number of questionable screens in the half. DJ Mbenga led the Lakers with 10 points in relief of Andrew Bynum (strained right rotator cuff). J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with 16 points. Oh yeah, Denver led, 57-49.