NBA Scores Western Conference Finals: Los Angeles Lakers Score Road Upset, Take Series Lead Against Denver Nuggets

Kobe Bryant scored 41 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 5 assists, Paul Gasol added 20 points and 11 boards and Trevor Ariza finished with 16 points as the Los Angeles Lakers used a huge fourth quarter to upset the Denver Nuggets 103-97 on Saturday night and take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series.

Both teams played close in the opening minutes of the first quarter but the Nuggets managed to build a 25-17 advantage after an 11-4 run. LA called a timeout to stop the run and then closed the quarter on a 9-3 spurt to pull to within 28-26 with Carmelo Anthony accounting for 14 of Denver’s total.

Denver pushed their lead to eight early in the second quarter but they couldn’t put together a big run to bury the Lakers and LA continued to hang around and when Kobe Bryant hit a driving layup with 4:48 left in the half the score was even at 39-39. Denver responded to the Lakers charge with a 13-5 to build a 52-44 cushion but LA cut their deficit to four by the half following an Ariza triple and Kobe sinking a technical foul shot at the end of the second.

Kobe evened the score at 52-52 at the start of the third but once again the Nuggets wouldn’t let the Lakers over the hump and used an 8-1 spurt to establish a seven-point edge. LA was able to hang within one with 2:18 left in the frame then Denver closed the frame on an 11-4 run highlighted by three triples that put them in front 79-71 heading into the fourth.

That eight-point advantage for the Nuggets quickly evaporated as their only point over the first five minutes came from Chauncey Billups when he sank a free-throw and LA grabbed an 81-80 lead on an Ariza three-pointer. Denver finally scored their first field goal 5:27 into the frame and the two sides traded leads with J.R. Smith putting the Nuggets in front 95-93 with 1:30 on the clock. Kobe answered with a three-pointer to give LA the lead and after Kobe sank one of two from the free-throw line to make it a two-point game Ariza managed to steal an in-bounds pass and after being fouled he sank both from the line to give LA the 99-95 lead with 36 seconds and Denver had no answers left.

Denver struggled all night from long-range as they hit just 5-27 from beyond the three-point line with Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith a combined 3-17 from that distance. As a team the Nuggets hit just 39 percent from the floor.

Click here for more Sports News

About YourFINDit

YourFindit Community is a business, music and social networking community. YourFINDit provides members with a wealth of applications that enable them to create an in depth profile within YourFindit. Profiles include an About Me, Background and Lifestyle, Videos, Photo sharing, News, Music, Blogs, unique URL and networking with other members inside the YourFINDit community. YourFindit provides ADit to each member providing them the opportunity to have an exclusive profile (no outside advertising) displaying only banner ads they upload to their pages. Members can run their own ads or give or sell their ad space to advertisers at prices the member sets.

To create your profile sign up and within minutes you too can have your People profile running your ads and building your network with new members daily.

YourFindit is owned and operated by TransWorldNews, Inc. a news and press release distribution service.