NBA Scores Western Conference Playoffs: Los Angeles Lakers Drop Utah Jazz, Advance to Conference Semifinals

Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, Lamar Odom added 26 points and 15 rebounds and Paul Gasol finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers knocked off the Utah Jazz 107-96 on Monday night to win their Western Conference best-of-seven playoff series 4-1 and will now advance to play the winner of the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets series.

Facing a must win situation the Jazz came ready to play in the opening quarter as traded buckets with the Lakers and the two teams were knotted at 26-26 at the end of the frame. Things quickly turned ugly for the Jazz as the Lakers opened the second on a 14-3 run with Bryant scoring eight of those points as L.A. grabbed a 40-29 advantage. Utah did their best to stay in the game and when Matt Harpring hit a 16-footer with 2:06 left in the half their deficit was cut to 48-40 but L.A. managed to head into the break with a 56-43 lead.

The third quarter wasn’t much better for Utah as Bryant added another eight points to his night and Gasol added nine points as the Lakers led by as many as 22 points before settling for an 82-63 lead going into the fourth. L.A. kept that big lead for the first four minutes of the final frame before Utah went on a 13-0 run during a 3:30 stretch to bring them to within 93-86 with 4:50 on the clock. Bryant stopped the bleeding for the Lakers with a 15-footer but Kyle Korver answered with a three-pointer to bring the Jazz to within six. That would be as close as Utah would get as they went nearly three minutes without a point and the Lakers sealed the game with a 5-0 spurt to put them up by ten with less than a minute left.

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