It was almost too easy for Kobe Bryant.
It was a rough night for Orlando.
Bryant led all scorers with 40 points, while dishing out 8 assists and grabbing 8 rebounds as the Lakers dominated the Orlando Magic 100-75. Bryant’s 40 points was a finals career high for him, as he is looking for his fourth NBA championship. Orlando looked good at the start of the game taking a 24-22 lead at the end of the first quarter. Orlando guard Jameer Nelson was activated for tonights game and played well in the beginning stage of the game, dishing out three assists and scoring on a jumper.
The Magic jumped out to a 33-28 lead in the second quarter.
Kobe had a career night.
Then with 8:32 left to play in the half, Phil Jackson decided to insert Bryant back in the game, and the rest was history, as he went 6-8 from the field scoring 12 points. His 12th point in the quarter came from a driving lay-up with time winding down to give the Lakers a 53-43 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was more of the same. Bryant started out scoring the first four points of the quarter and never let up, torching the Orlando defense for 18 points in the quarter. As Bryant did his damage in the third, the Laker defense stiffened up, shutting down Orlando’s vaunted offense. The Magic were held to 15 points in the quarter.
The Magic disappeared for tonight's game...
Orlando had it’s worst shooting performance in the playoffs, by going 23-77 (29.9%) from the field and going 8-23 (34.8) from 3-point territory. Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis went a combined 6-27 (22.2%) from the field. While the Lakers shot 41-89 (46.1%) from the field and outrebounded the Magic 55-41.
The stars were out tonight, Kanye West, Tyrese Gibson, Denzel Washington, Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, David Arquette were there to see the Laker win, and of course, no Laker game wouldn’t be complete without Jack Nicholson, at his usual seat.
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