NBA Scores Western Conference Playoffs: Kobe Bryant Leads Hot Shooting LA Lakers Past Utah Jazz in Game One

Kobe Bryant scored 24 points and dished out 8 assists, Pau Gasol added 20 points and 9 rebounds and Trevor Ariza finished with 21 points on 8-10 shooting as the Los Angeles Lakers had little trouble dropping the Utah Jazz 113-100 on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series.

Utah actually hung with Los Angeles over the first six minutes of the game and after a Carlos Boozer dunk the Jazz were down 12-10. That would be the last time they would be even close to the Lakers as LA got a three-pointer from Shannon Brown and a pair of dunks from Gasol and Ariza to move up by nine. After Matt Harpring got the Jazz to within 25-19 the Lakers closed the frame with a 6-0 spurt to push their advantage to 30-19. Lamar Odom pushed the lead to 16 points with a dunk early in the second and after Utah trimmed the deficit back to ten the Lakers went on a 9-2 run to grab a 51-34 lead with 3:31 left in the half. Andrei Kirilenko managed to hit a layup to stop the bleeding but then the Lakers closed the half on another 9-2 run to carry a 62-40 lead into the break.

The Jazz came out and scored the first nine points of the third quarter to trim their deficit to13 and after Boozer hit a jumper with 3:24 left on the clock Utah was within nine but Los Angeles wouldn’t let them get any closer as Shannon Brown hit a big three-pointer late in the frame and the Lakers carried a comfortable 86-73 lead into the fourth. While Utah managed to get within single digits one more time the Lakers never looked like they would let it slip away as Kobe hit a pair of shots to push the lead up to 102-89 with 4;48 left and the Jazz couldn’t put together a serious run the rest of thee way.

Los Angeles shot 55 percent from the floor and 7-15 from beyond the three-point line. Defensively they blocked nine shots on the day

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