Denver ? A dominating effort on the boards and a great performance by the bench helped the Denver Nuggets overcome a below-par effort from an ailing Carmelo Anthony.

The Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 120-101, on Monday night, evening the Western Conference finals at two games apiece.

Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith scored 24 points, and Kenyon Martin had a double-double as the Nuggets posted their eighth blowout of the postseason but first against Los Angeles following three games that came down to the final seconds.

The Nuggets didn’t need to worry about a botched inbounds pass in the closing seconds like the ones that cost them Games 1 and 3, although Kobe Bryant had another monster fourth quarter.

Bryant, who is averaging 37 points in the series, scored 34, including 14 in the fourth quarter.

Anthony finished with a hard-fought 15 points, and Martin had 13 points and 15 boards.

“It just shows we have heart and can play with a man down,” Smith said. “We did a lot this year and kept it up.”

‘Melo’s shooting slump continued as he went 3-for-16 and missed his first 10 shots. Making matters worse, he turned his right ankle in the first half. At the break, he needed fluids and had his ankle retaped.