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The Los Angeles Lakers dominated the New York Knicks for three quarters of Tuesday's game before squandering much of their lead and holding on for a 100-90 victory.

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points as last season's NBA champions cruised to a fourth successive win despite a poor fourth quarter.

"Depending on the matchup, we have to go our advantages, and we have so many it's hard to focus on one or two," said Pau Gasol, who grabbed 16 rebounds.

"Our second unit has to do a better job of playing together and helping us any way they can."

The Knicks trailed by 25 points with 9:19 remaining but quickly cut the deficit with an 11-0 run against the Los Angeles bench players.

Nate Robinson and Wilson Chandler both had 15 points for the Knicks (3-11), who shot just 39 per cent and were out-rebounded 60-36.

All of the Lakers starting five scored in double figures, including 17 apiece for Andrew Bynum and Ron Artest, but the team received little support from the bench.

The lone weak spot for Los Angeles during its 11-3 start to the season, their bench players have made a habit of losing leads, particularly at the end of games.

"It's kind of embarrassing to lose a big lead and then have guys like Kobe and Gasol come back in and have to finish games," said Lakers reserve guard Shannon Brown.

"It's a problem, but not a problem we can't fix."

The Lakers kicked things into high gear in the third quarter where they seized a 76-52 lead. Bryant tallied 13 points in the third and finished with five rebounds and three steals.

He shot 14-for-20 from the field in his first contest against the Knicks since scoring 61 against them last year in setting a Madison Square Garden record.

New York have lost five in a row to the Lakers.

In Denver the New Jersey Nets slid closer to the NBA's record of 17 losses to start a season by dropping their 14th game in a row, falling 101-87 to the Denver Nuggets.

Carmelo Anthony (pictured) scored 27 points while Nene Hilario added 17 to spark the Nuggets past the Nets, who fell to 0-14.

The Nets are trying to avoid the record worst winless start at 0-17 set by Miami in their inaugural 1988-89 season and matched by the Los Angeles Clippers in the strike-shortened 1998-99 season.

Rafer Alston and Devin Harris each scored 19 points to lead New Jersey, which began a four-game western road trip with the loss. The Nets visit Portland, Sacramento and the reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers.

If they don't win before they face Dallas at home, the Nets will be trying to avoid setting a new futility standard against the Mavericks.

The latest loss adds to the pressure on Nets coach Lawrence Frank, who won his first 13 games after he was promoted to the job in January 2004 but now owns a losing streak even longer.

Reuters / AFP