News / Sports
NBA Scores: Kobe Bryant Leads Lakers Past Suns
It was, in fact, the Kobe Bryant show on Thursday night as the Los Angeles Lakers star scored 45 points to lead his team to a 95-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns and cut their Western Conference playoff series to 2-1.
Phoenix looked as if they were prepared to take a 3-0 series lead early in the first quarter as they rattled off the first 11 points. The Suns led by as many as 17 in the opening period as they hit four three-pointers and kept the Lakers supporting cast at bay. Kobe scored nine in the first but the Lakers trailed 31-17 heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter was a different story for the Lakers role players as Lamar Odom scored nine points and Kwame Brown scored eight points to go along side 11 put up by Kobe and the Lakers went into the half trailing by just three, 51-48.
Los Angeles took a three point lead early in the third after Kobe sank three free-throws after drawing a foul from beyond the arch. Phoenix remained close and actually took a one-point advantage on a Shawn Marion bucket halfway through the quarter but L.A. would not relinquish the lead after that. Kwame Brown came up big once again scoring nine points to complement the ten scored by Kobe and the Lakers finished the quarter with a 74-70 lead.
L.A. led by as many as eight in the fourth quarter but the Suns still had one more rally left in them and when Leandro Barbosa hit a three-pointer with 2:02 left on the clock the game was tied at 89-89. A layup from Lamar Odom and a jumper from Kobe gave the Lakers a four point advantage with just under a minute on the clock and Phoenix could never find the bottom of the bucket after the Barbosa triple. Bryant hit a pair from the free-throw line with 20 seconds to seal the game.
Kwame Brown finished with 19 points while Lamar Odom added 18 points and 16 rebounds in the win.
The Lakers will look to even the series on Sunday when the two teams meet for game four of their best of seven series.
