Lakers vs. Denver Game 1

Whooooh! What a game it was. Game 1, just pure playoff basketball between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets tonight at STAPLES Center. Lakers prevailed 105-103 and take a 1-0 lead in Western Conference Finals. Lakers seemed to be sleepy and sloppy in the first half but woke up in the second half. Denver started out the game on fire, shooting over 61% from the field in 1st quarter but I knew Denver couldn't sustain that shooting performance throughout the game. Lakers did a great job staying close and taking bits of lead. Game was back and forth until the 4th quarter. Denver took lead but Lakers came back and answered. In the final minutes, Kobe made clutch freethrows, the final 6 points for Lakers.

Kobe Bryant had 40 pts as he outdueled Carmelo Anthony (39 pts). Anthony was on fire in the first three quarters as he nailed many threes, but Kobe controlled the 4th, scoring I think 15 pts. Trevor Ariza had the play of the game. That steal of the inbound pass into Chauncey Billips was intercepted by Trevor Ariza and that pretty much sealed the game. Derek Fisher nailed some clutch shots too, with that late 3 from the corner and had 13 pts. Pau Gasol was consistent again 13 pts 14 reb, but could've had 2 more had he nailed 2 free throws. That did not cost them.

The refs made some mistakes in this game. The off balance three by Chauncey billips should NOT have counted as he stepped on the line out of bounds. But that did not affect the outcome either way so there won't be major protests. Anthony and Kobe were physical and both were tangled up most of the time. Both played great defense.

I like how the Games starts at 6 for the Lakers now. This way, I can watch the game and still do some homework after the game.

Game 2 Thursday, LAkers will need to show up better right from the getgo.But overall, nice job closing the game out LAkers.

9 down, 7 to go.