The Los Angeles Lakers (7-8) will face off against the Denver Nuggets (8-8) in what should be a highly competitive Friday night matchup.  Coming off another disappointing loss, Kobe Bryant and company will look to regain their focus when they battle it out with the Nuggets.

The team failed to take advantage of another spectacular performance out of Bryant by losing a tough one to Indiana by a 79-77 margin at home on Wednesday.

"It was just a tough game for us, because we didn't make shots.  On top of that, we didn't make free throws.  I've got to minimize my mistakes.  Ten turnovers is way too many for me, so I have to work on perfecting that and bringing that down," said Bryant to ESPN.

"I just felt like I played the crowd too much," he added.

Los Angeles previously eliminated Denver out of last season's opening playoffs round.  In a series that went the full seven games, Kobe averaged 29.1 ppg. 

However, the star isn't too far off in scoring with his 2012-13 campaign thus far, putting up 27.7 points.  To top it off, Bryant is averaging 31.8 in his last four matchups.  

Nonetheless, the Lakers have come up short in three of them, now sporting a 2-3 record under new head coach Mike D'Antoni. 

New acquisition Dwight Howard, whose only averaging 11.5 points in his last four games, did show signs of breaking out of his slump by racking up 17 points and eight rebounds on Wednesday.

"It's been a tough stretch for us early in the season.  We can't lose our faith.  We'll find a rhythm and we'll get in a groove, but we can't let what we're going through get us down right now," said Howard.

CLICK HERE to watch the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets via free live stream.  Coverage of the NBA game is set to begin on Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. PST. 

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