The Los Angeles Lakers secured a win over the New York Knicks on Christmas Day to push their current winning streak to five games.

The back-in-form Lakers do not get much of a rest as they are in Denver to face the Nuggets on Boxing Day.

The Nuggets were also in action on Christmas Day at the Staples Center, falling to the Lakers’ local rivals, the Clippers, 112-100.

Here are a few thoughts to consider ahead of Wednesday’s game:

The Nash effect

After Tuesday’s win, Kobe Bryant was asked if he has been caught up watching his new teammate at all over their first couple of games together,

“I ain’t watching (expletive),” Bryant told USA Today with a laugh. “I’m looking to get open.”

“I get a rebound (and) I’m looking for him, running the floor,” Bryant explained afterward. “If he’s penetrating or whatever, I’m looking for an angle to back-cut somebody, or coming off a screen, I’m always just looking for crevices to get open because I know he’ll find you.”

The streak

The Lakers’ first four wins came against the Washington, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Golden State and while the Warriors are off to a strong start, a win over the high-flying Knicks in front of a national audience had to be nice even if Bryant tried to downplay the result.

“I expected to get this thing turned around at some point,” Bryant told CBS Sports.

Lakers standing pat
Although longtime Laker Derek Fisher is back on the market, expect the Lakers to stand pat for a while as they try to figure out how all of the pieces fit together now that the Nash, Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard are all healthy at the same time for pretty much the first time this season.

Lakers aren’t interested in opening a roster spot to acquire Derek Fisher, Kenyon Martin or any other free agent, a source told Y! Sports.

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) December 26, 2012

Back in Denver

While the Denver Nuggets were expected to get off to a better start this season, they have also had one of the toughest schedules around as they have played 20 of their first 29 games on the road.

With altitude being a factor, the Nuggets have always had a special advantage and this season they are off to an 8-1 start at home.

It will be interesting to see if the aging Lakers are affected by the disadvantage in the second game in as many days being played in the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains.