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LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Kobe Bryant may have seen his new man in the middle emerge.

Chris Mihm had a career-high 23 points with 12 rebounds while Bryant scored 25 points to lead the revamped Los Angeles Lakers to a 89-78 victory over the Denver Nuggets in the season opener for both teams.

One of the acquisitions in the trade of Gary Payton to Boston, Mihm is among the handful of big men being asked to help fill the void created by the trade of superstar center Shaquille O'Neal to Miami.

"I have been excited about this night since I signed here in the summer," Mihm said. "I was ready to go and give it a good effort and to get off to a winning start is a great foot forward."

The 7-footer jump-started Los Angeles in his debut with nine points in the first six minutes and 19 in the first half, helping the Lakers to a 50-31 lead.

"It was just one of those nights," Mihm said. "Everyone was giving me the ball in good spots and I was able to show what I am able to do out there."

Despite shooting just 5-of-14 from the floor, Bryant made 14-of-15 free throws and got his teammates involved with seven assists. The new main man in Los Angeles also made his presence felt on the defensive end with three blocked shots, including one where he raced the length of the court to break up a layup after taking a bad shot.

"We really did well with our execution and ball movement," Bryant said. "And we played defense extremely well. We competed hard tonight and we played together and that pleased me very much."

"I thought the play of the game was what we call a turnaround play," Lakers coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "When it looks like they (were) going in for a layup and we don't give up on the play and Kobe runs that play down and blocks it - one of the best plays I've ever seen. That may be the best example of a turn around play we've ever had. ... I've ever had."

The Lakers never trailed, stretching their lead to as many as 23 points early in the third period.

Denver shot horribly in the first half, making just 11-of-44 shots. The Nuggets scored only four fast-break points after leading the NBA with just under 20 a game last season.

"We tried to just concentrate on our game and not worry about theirs," Bryant said. "The coaching staff prepared us for the game and then the responsibility was on us to go out there and execute it so we just take it one play at a time."

"I thought our defense was just excellent," Tomjanovich said. "That's what we need to do to be a running team. We didn't have a real good night shooting but we had guys playing hard."

The Nuggets cut the deficit to 58-48 with 5:24 left in the third quarter with a 17-4 run fueled by Voshon Lenard , who scored seven of his 13 points during the run. Less than a minute later, Lenard tore his left Achilles tendon, likely ending his season.

"Losing Voshon was probably the worst that could have happened to us," said Nuggets center Marcus Camby , who grabbed 16 rebounds. "Losing the game was nothing in comparison."

Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points and Kenyon Martin added 13 and seven rebounds in his first game with Denver.