Los Angeles had plenty of offensive power to beat the Warriors for a sixth straight time, getting 13 points and five assists from Derek Fisher and 12 points and seven boards from Andrew Bynum. Reserve Shannon Brown added 17 points, including two spectacular dunks.
Monta Ellis scored 18 points and Corey Maggette had 17 points and six rebounds in Golden State's third straight game without ill coach Don Nelson, who is fighting pneumonia. Nelson is expected to miss two more games before rejoining the team for Thursday night's home game against Houston.
The Lakers won all four meetings with the Warriors last season and have swept the season series in three of the last four years.
Next up for Los Angeles on Sunday: the winless New Jersey Nets, who would have to pull off a major upset to avoid matching the worst start in NBA history at 0-17. The record for futility is held by the expansion Miami Heat (1988-89) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1999).
The Lakers shot 52.3 percent in the first half to Golden State's 34.8, and this one was all but decided in the opening minutes. Fans left in droves by midway through the fourth period.
Bryant went to the bench with two fouls at the 5:59 mark of the first quarter and the Lakers used a 19-9 run without him to build a 36-22 lead heading into the second. Bryant was hit with a technical for jawing at official James Capers after being called for a charge on the other end.
He returned to start the second quarter and missed his first four shots before finally scoring his first points of the night on a putback of his own miss 8:58 before halftime. Bryant shot 8-for-20 overall.
Ronny Turiaf returned to the Warriors' lineup after missing nearly a month and 12 straight games with a sprained left knee. He had three points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
Ellis had scored 20 or more points in six of his last seven games and 30 or more in three straight but never found a groove in shooting 8-for-19. He was averaging 37.7 points over his previous three outings.
The Warriors fell to 0-4 against the Pacific Division, including 0-2 at home.