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Since the acquisition of Pau Gasol on February 1, 2008, the Lakers had yet to lose three consecutive games.

They’d lost two-straight on eight different occasions, but never thrice.

That’s a fact talked about throughout the week by reporters around L.A.’s practice facility …but L.A. had actually already won the next game after dropping two without Gasol twice, first against Dallas and then Washington in March of 2008 when the Spaniard was out with a sprained ankle.

Thanks to the 100th 40-point performance of Kobe Bryant’s outstanding career on Tuesday at STAPLES Center against Detroit, you can make that three times.

Gasol still in dress clothes due to a hamstring strain (yet looking to return in L.A.’s next game, on Thursday), the Lakers utilized pre-groin-tweak-looking Kobe and some swarming team defense to burst to a 25-point lead after three quarters. Detroit managed to cut to just seven late in the fourth before ultimately falling by 13 when Bryant swished a 28-foot three to get to his 40 (he’s good) on the final shot of the game. Guess the groin was OK?

“I wanted to come out and have a good game and have people stop asking about it,” he said.

Forty points surely did the trick, and led by No. 24, the purple and gold can still make the claim that you may get ‘em once, and maybe even twice, but definitely not three straight times.

“(Losing) two in a row means something,” Phil Jackson had said after Monday’s practice. “One game is really a bump in the road for this team and they feel it. Two is an embarrassment. Three we don’t even want to think about.”

They won’t have to think about it, at least until the next two-game losing streak, which happened four times in 2008-09.

“Some of that is just talent and some of it is resiliency of the team that comes back,” said Jackson. “They were embarrassed with the losses and they want to feel good about themselves so they worked hard to change that.”

The tide of this one turned with L.A.’s first substitution late in the first quarter, when Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown checked in to match Detroit’s small lineup and produced a collective 11 points, two assists and two steals during a stretch that saw a 17-10 Pistons lead morph into a 48-36 Lakers edge with three minutes left in the second quarter (57-42 at the half).

“You’ve got to credit them,” said Pistons head coach John Kuester. “They played awfully hard, they were the aggressors.”

This was a welcome sight for the Lakers, whose bench struggled just as Bryant did in the team’s previous two games. Yet like the bench, Bryant turned things around in immediately after missing his first four shots by sinking eight of his next 10 for a game-high 21 points at the break, then converted 6-of-8 in the third to push L.A.’s lead to 88-63.

“We played a couple of good periods in this game tonight and we sustained the effort at the end,” said Jackson. “I was pleased with the ball movement and the way we played in the first course of the game.”

The Pistons refused to quit, however, chipping away at L.A.’s lead first with a 9-0 run to start the quarter before getting it to seven with 1:55 remaining by outworking the Lakers second unit, drawing Jackson’s disdain. But it was too little, too late on this night.

L.A. has a chance to start a winning streak when the Chicago Bulls come to town, and perhaps more importantly, they expect to get their 7-foot power forward back in the process.

Until then, your numbers:

POSTGAME NUMBERS
1,049 Career coaching wins for Phil Jackson, pushing him past Charlotte Bobcats head coach Larry Brown for 5th on the NBA’s all-time coaching list.

65 Points scored by the Lakers in the second and third quarters, to 41 from Detroit. Kobe Bryant had 27 in that mid-game stretch.

44 Career double-doubles for Andrew Bynum heading into this season. Thus far in 2009-10, he already has eight double-doubles in nine games after posting 17 and 12 against Detroit.

24 Points off the bench for Pistons backup guard Will Bynum, who helped Detroit close the gap to seven points late in the fourth as Jackson put Bryant back into the game.

12 Edge on the glass for the Lakers, including a 25-15 margin in the first half.

8 Of lots of things for Lamar Odom, including eight rebounds, assists and points in 29 minutes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LAKERS GAMEDAY PAGE

We took a look at the Lakers - Nuggets showdown while it was happening, entering a thought or three each quarter. Here’s your running diary:

Inactives
Lakers: Pau Gasol
Nuggets: Johan Petro

Starters
Lakers: Fisher, Bryant, Artest, Odom and Bynum
Nuggets: Billups, Arron Afflalo, Carmelo Anthony, Martin and Nene

Phil Jackson Pregame
L.A.’s head coach covered topics ranging from Michael Jordan’s jersey being retired, guarding Carmelo Anthony, Andrew Bynum’s outstanding game against Phoenix and more.

First Quarter
9:00 All Lakers to start. Bryant nailed two free throws before Artest and Odom sunk back-to-back threes to put the Lakers up 8-0. Denver responded with five quick points, before consecutive Bynum and Artest hoops put L.A. up 12-5. The Lakers didn’t seem distracted by a pregame South Park themed video that saw Cartman throw a basketball in the face of cartoon Jack Nicholson. This is Denver, after all, home of South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, but it’s never smart to mess with Jack, is it?

5:00 The next offensive salvo went to Denver, who got consecutive buckets from Nene and jumpers from Martin and Billups to cap a 12-4 run that put them up a point. Some of the vitriol that L.A. earned by beating Denver in this building last season to advance to the NBA Finals (and the year before in a first-round sweep) came out in the form of a few aggressive “boooo!’s” when I walked around downtown wearing a Lakers warm up earlier. Fortunately I’m non-descript in a suit at press row right now.

1:00 After a 1-for-4 start, Bryant nailed consecutive jumpers to get to 10 points and give L.A. a two-point cushion heading into the second quarter. In related news, he’s good, and leads the NBA in scoring (33 per night). He’s taken his usual 2009-10 spot on the block, spending more time there than Bynum does looking at potential new cars online.

Second Quarter
10:09 Did you know that Bynum is averaging the fourth-most minutes per game in the NBA at 40 per night? It’s true. Looks like we’ll see that again tonight, as his first breather came just now when D.J. Mbenga checked in. ‘Drew had eight points and seven boards in another good effort, though he seemed a bit winded (remember the altitude doesn’t help). Think about sprinting with your mouth closed, only using your nostrils to breath. Does that work? Never tried it. The Lakers held a four-point lead when he went out.

5:40 Perhaps the best way to tell that L.A. was tired (other than remembering that the team arrived at their Denver hotel at 4 a.m. the previous night) was watching them take long jumpers. The Nuggets weren’t able to take too much of an advantage, leading by only three (44-41) into a TV timeout, but the style of play was bound to catch up with the Lakers in the second half.

0:37.2 Did I mention the Lakers looked tired? The final minutes of the half revolved around more perimeter jumpers from Bryant and Artest, though both managed to nail late-shot-clock threes to keep L.A. in the game. Another Artest three just rimmed out heading into the half, the purple and gold somehow trailing by just two after a weary half.

Third Quarter
9:04 Halftime didn’t seem to help L.A. much in terms of energy, as they missed four shots and turned the ball over twice while allowing five Denver field goals (including three straight layups from Anthony) as the lead grew to 12, the home team’s biggest to that point. Last altitude comment, I swear … At the break I climbed to the top of the upper deck to visit some old high school friends, and was legitimately a bit winded from the lack of oxygen. But perhaps more than the altitude, L.A. was having trouble matching Denver’s energy in general, as they seemingly couldn’t help but try to avenge the playoff loss (not that it can be done in the regular season, but think of L.A.’s effort vs. Boston last Christmas).

5:33 With a few inches on Nene, Bynum didn’t have much of a problem getting shots off over him, and connected on his fifth in seven attempts. The Lakers, however, were having trouble getting him the ball, continuing to take jumpers as if they were Phoenix from the previous evening. On a brighter note, the Denver media room had Mountain Dew among its fountain choices.

0:55.2 Odom’s two missed free throws with just under a minute remaining underscored a horrid third quarter for L.A., during which they managed to score only eight points as their basket may as well have had small pieces of the Rocky Mountain covering its entry point. Denver had no such problem scoring, going for 29 points to take a commanding 87-64 lead into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter
6:20 Bynum stayed on for the first half of the fourth, building his double-double to 19 and 15 on 8-of-13 shooting … But things didn’t get any better from the Lakers, who trailed 100-71 at that point. Denver finally took out its starters as well, Anthony sitting with 25 points to lead al scorers.

4:45 Jordan Farmar hit back-to-back threes to make the score look a bit better … yet it was still a 23-point game.

1:34 Adding a bit of mental pain to L.A.’s loss, rookie point guard Ty Lawson came out of nowhere to dunk in traffic, plus the harm, as the Lakers were wondering how quickly the bus could get to the airport.

Bottom line: L.A. didn’t have energy, and Denver had a lot of it.

They’ll get a chance to get things going the right way again on Sunday at STAPLES Center against the Rockets.

Until then, some numbers:

POSTGAME NUMBERS
66.8 Combined scoring average of Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony, the league’s two top guns, heading into the game.

44 Combined points for Bryant (19 in three quarters) and Anthony (25, 18 in the second half) in this one.

28 Lakers points in the paint, emblematic of the team’s reliance on perimeter jumpers, and 50 less points down low than they managed against Phoenix the night before.

25 Denver’s rank on the defensive glass heading into the contest, which the Lakers did take advantage of in the form of 15 offensive boards as they actually won the rebounding battle 48-47.

22.7 L.A.’s second half shooting percentage (10-of-44).

8 Points scored by the Lakers in a tough third quarter, enabling Denver to stretch a two-point halftime lead to a 23-point edge heading into the fourth.

3 Fouls in five minutes whistled on Ron Artest to open the third quarter, giving him five for the game and earning him a seat on the bench.

Watch Highlights, Get Stats & Read Quotes over at the LAKERS GAMEDAY PAGE.

We used the title “No Gasol, No Bynum, No Problem!” when L.A. dusted Memphis on Friday evening, crediting L.A.’s impressive by-committee approach in a solid team effort.

Of course, Kobe Bryant’s 41 points didn’t hurt the cause. He’s pretty good.

Bryant’s scoring came so easily, we nearly forgot that he also dropped 41 points in two of the three Lakers wins prior to Friday, against Atlanta at home and then in Houston three nights later.

So while adorned in his Sunday white uniform against New Orleans, it wasn’t exactly a surprise to see Bryant filling up the twine yet again for 26 points in the first half on 10-of-16 shooting, helping his squad to a 55-42 lead at halftime. He was scoring so readily that one wondered why New Orleans wasn’t sending a double-team his way … And sure enough, that’s what Byron Scott would do in the third quarter, turning Bryant into a ball mover as his teammates took over in the second half.

“We had a little easier time tonight than I had anticipated,” said Phil Jackson. “A lot of it due … Kobe’s 26 point first half, they really came out to double to take the ball out of his hands and we were able to get some three-point shots and make them.”

The Lakers canned eight of their 12 threes in that second half, while Ron Artest and Lamar Odom combined for 17 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 points in 30 minutes of burn each. Shannon Brown and Luke Walton pitched in 26 total points, all but five of which came in the latter half as the Hornets struggled to find an answer.

“This was a game that we believed was going to be a really tough game,” said Bryant. “I think because of that, everybody’s antennae were up, everyone was extremely focused and ready to go.”

No one more than himself.

Sure, Bryant didn’t hit the 40-point mark for the fourth time in five nights (a surprise despite only 12 second half minutes), but his initial burst was more than enough. D.J. Mbenga was so enamored with Bryant’s play that the center said he almost wished he were on the bench, as he might be with a healthy team, so he could just sit there and watch Bryant. Instead, Mbenga put up his first career double-double, a 10-point, 12-rebound effort capped off with four blocks … Even if he had to focus more on protecting the paint than marveling at Kobe.

“Well nothing surprises me anymore,” said Phil Jackson. “So I’m honestly not surprised at all … (Bryant is) the kind of guy [where] it doesn’t matter if things are going well like that. He’s going to want the ball and make them have to come double team him, make them play him in a way … He’s been doing a good job.”

Though Bryant is as much a stranger to scoring binges as peanut butter is to jelly, last season he didn’t score 40 points until Dec. 20 at Orlando (41), and only did it four times for the entire regular campaign*. After seven games this season, he’s just a game away from matching that pace.
*Other three times: 40 at Utah on Jan. 2; 61 at New York on Feb.; 49 at Phoenix on March 1.

One simple explanation for Bryant’s burst of points (other than the fact that he’s the world’s best player) is the convergence of two things: he spent much of his offseason working on his post game, and the block is wide open for his use with Bynum and Gasol in street clothes.

After the game, Bryant was asked how much of his offseason workouts focused on his low post game.

“More than usual,” he said. “I always concentrate on it, but more than usual.”

Not a shocker. By the way, ceding the block to either seven-footer when they return isn’t exactly the plan.

“They know I eat first,” said the Finals MVP. In other words, this isn’t just a temporary experiment.

Case in point: in the second quarter, Bryant so easily laid in and banked home respective shots on post ups of New Orleans shooting guard Devin Brown that Brown just sort of stopped and looked around, his face resembling the female lead of “Paranormal Activity” after the door of her bedroom door closed randomly in the middle of the night.

Brown wasn’t sure how to make it stop, but then again, who is?

POSTGAME NUMBERS
1 Year of college basketball played together at UCLA for Jordan Farmar and Hornets back up Darren Collison. Farmar’s five assists helped lead to 46 bench points for L.A.

4 Blocks for D.J. Mbenga, not to mention 12 rebounds to lead L.A. in both categories in relief of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

5 Free throws attempted by the Hornets in a first half dominated by the Lakers, showing how New Orleans largely settled for jump shots.

12 Three-pointers hit by the Lakers, eight of which came in the second half. Luke Walton and Shannon Brown nailed three apiece.

33.6 Kobe Bryant’s scoring average so far this year, tops in the NBA.

40 Points scored in STAPLES last January by Hornets forward David West in a Hornets’ win; L.A. held him to just 11 on Sunday.

Watch Highlights, Get Stats & Read Quotes over at the LAKERS GAMEDAY PAGE.