NBA Scores Western Conference Finals: Los Angeles Lakers Dig Deep, Drop Denver Nuggets in Game 1

Kobe Bryant scored 40 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, Paul Gasol added 13 points and 14 boards ad Derek Fisher finished with 13 points and 6 assists as the Los Angeles Lakers came up with the big plays late in the fourth quarter to drop the Denver Nuggets 105-103 on Tuesday night to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference finals series.

Denver came out firing in the first quarter as they built a 16-6 advantage and led by as many as 13 in the opening frame before settling for a 31-23 lead at the end of one frame. The Nuggets had 16 points from Carmelo Anthony in that opening quarter but the Lakers would hold him in check during the second as they chipped away at their deficit. Lamar Odom had the Lakers within two after hitting a triple with 8:15 left in the half but Chauncey Billups pushed the lead back to five after hitting three of four free-throws following fouls by Kobe and Odom. LA continued to fight back though and Kobe hit a three-pointer with 2:42 on the clock to get the Lakers within 47-46 and Josh Powell would finally push LA over the top with a pair of free-throws to give his squad a 50-49 advantage with 1:09 left. Kenyon Martin would put the Nuggets up 54-52 with 8 seconds left in the half but Fisher buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to put LA in front 55-54 at the break.

The Nuggets turned to Carmelo in the third and their star responded as he scored 10 of Denver’s first 12 points of the third to put his team back in front 66-61. Once again LA responded as they used a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead 70-66 but Billups would score five straight to put Denver back in front 73-72 and J.R. Smith would hit a long three-pointer at the end f the frame to keep Denver in front 76-74. Denver managed to extend their lead to 89-82 following a Carmelo dunk with 7:28 left in the game and it looked like the Nuggets had control but LA wouldn’t go away. Kobe pulled the Lakers to within two with 3:12 and then Fisher hit another triple to give LA their first lead of the frame at 2:30 left on the clock. Billups answered the Fisher triple with a  three of his own and Denver was back in front 99-97 with 1:38 left in the game. Gasol then came up with a big offensive rebound following a Fisher miss and after drawing the foul Gasol sank both from the line to get LA even at 99-99 with 1:14 left on the clock. With 30 seconds left Kobe hit a pair from the line to put LA in front 101-99 and then Trevor Ariza made the play of the game as he stole an in-bounds pass that led to another pair of free-throws from Kobe and the Lakers were in front 103-99 with 10 seconds left. Billups had the Nuggets within one after hitting a three-pointer but Kobe would ice the game with a pair of free-throws with 5 seconds on the clock.

If Denver is looking for reasons why they lost a 23-35 performance from the free-throw line would be a good place to start. In comparison the Lakers were 20-24 from the stripe and out-rebounded the Nuggets 46-37 on the night.

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