Los Angeles  - Carmelo Anthony found himself in early foul trouble, but the Denver Nuggets' superstar got untracked and left the LA Lakers in a foul mood.

Anthony scored 12 of his 25 points in a game-breaking 29-8 third quarter, and the Nuggets snapped the NBA defending champions' six- game winning streak, with a 105-79 home court blowout on Friday night.

"I got those three fouls early, and I wanted George to keep me in," said Anthony, referring to Denver coach George Karl. "But I'm glad he didn't. He made a great decision by taking me out. In the second half, I knew it was a whole new ballgame for me."

J. R. Smith had 20 points, while rookie Ty Lawson and Brazilian Nene finished with 13 points apiece for Denver (7-3) which allowed the Lakers just 23 second-half points.

The Lakers were making their first appearance at Pepsi Centre since beating the Nuggets in six games in the Western Conference finals. However, this one turned out differently.

Plagued by fouls, Anthony was held to just seven points as the Nuggets led 58-56 at halftime. However, 'Melo broke loose from Ron Artest and opened the second half with eight quick points to spark a 10-0 run, as the lead swelled to 12 with less than four minutes gone.

Ahead by 15, Smith fired in consecutive three-pointers and ended the third quarter with a layup as Denver held a commanding 87-64 cushion.

"That was the best quarter I have seen our team play against a special team," Karl said. "It was intense, it was focused, disciplined."

The assault continued, and Anthony's layup put them ahead by 29 before coasting to the laugher.

Andrew Bynum had 19 points with 15 rebounds for the Lakers (7-2), while Kobe Bryant scored all 19 of his in the first half before sitting out the fourth quarter.

"It was a great game by them, they played extremely well defensively, they played with a lot of energy and got after us," Bryant said. "They beat us, they beat us straight up and down."" (dpa)