Laker are 2009 NBA Champions

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—Kobe Bryant(notes) has the NBA title he needed most—the one without Shaq.

Bryant’s seven-year chase of a coveted championship is over. He’s got his fourth, and Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson his record 10th, a ring for each finger. One year after failing in the finals, Bryant and the Lakers have redemption, and all the rewards that go with it.

They earned their 15th title on Sunday night as Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol(notes) added 14 and 15 rebounds in a 99-86 win in Game 5 over the Orlando Magic, who ran out of comebacks.

It took longer than Bryant expected, but he has stepped out of former teammate Shaquille O’Neal’s(notes) enormous shadow—at last. His fourth championship secured a strong case can be made for Bryant being the league’s best player since Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers.

His coach stands alone.

Jackson, the chilled-out, bow-legged Zen Master who won six league titles in the 1990s with Jordan in Chicago, now has won No. 4 with Los Angeles and broke a tie with legendary Boston coach Red Auerbach as the winningest coach in finals history.

Bryant and Jackson, whose relationship strained and briefly snapped under the weight of success, are again at the top of their games.

by the associated press

Magic wins over Lakers in game three 108-104

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Missing for two games, Orlando found its Magic touch.

Making easy shots and tough ones from everywhere, the Magic won their first game in two visits to the NBA finals as Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis scored 21 points apiece in a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 on Tuesday night to pull within 2-1.

Orlando shot a finals record 63 percent — including another finals record 75 percent in the first half — to snap a six-game finals losing streak and avoid falling into an 0-3 hole that no team in postseason history has been able to escape.

Kobe Bryant, seeking a fourth title and his first since 2002, scored 31 points for the Lakers but the superstar had just 10 points in the second half and went only 4 of 15 from the field after the first quarter. He also missed five free throws, points that could have given the Lakers that 3-0 lead.

Game 4 is Thursday night, and Game 5 — now necessary — will be at Amway Arena on Sunday.

With their season 48 minutes from all but disappearing, the Magic, hosting their first finals game since 1995, had five players score at least 18 points. Rafer Alston, who was just 3 of 17 from the field n the first two games, had 20 and Hedo Turkoglu and Mickael Pietrus 18 each.

"We've got to play like this," Howard said of the balanced scoring. "When guys are attacking we're tough to guard.

"We moved the ball a lot tonight," he said. "We got some good shots. We didn't rush anything."

Pau Gasol scored 23 points but had just three rebounds and the Lakers were only 16 of 26 from the line.

For a while, it appeared the Magic, who shot just 36 percent while dropping Games 1 and 2 at Staples Center, couldn't or wouldn't miss.

From 20 feet, swish. From 10 feet, nothing but net. Layups, runners, banks, pull-ups, didn't matter. You name it, if it went up, more times than not it went in.

"Well, it was going in the basket. That always works," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "That formula's always tried and true."

Orlando made 24 of 32 shots in the first half and only cooled off a little in the third quarter as they entered the fourth at a 65 percent clip and clinging to an 81-75 lead.

Bryant sat out the first 4:47 of the fourth, and when he finally subbed in, the Lakers were still down by five and unable to do anything to stop the Magic's marksmanship.

But then, Orlando began to misfire at the worst time possible.

After Pietrus was long with a wide-open 3, Gasol was fouled at the other end and made two free throws to make it 99 all with 2:41 remaining. Orlando's rowdy crowd, which waited 14 years for a chance to welcome the Larry O'Brien Trophy to town, grew nervous.

"Oh, boy," muttered one fan near the media section.



by the associated press

Lakers take game two in overtime

LOS ANGELES (AP) — History was there for the Orlando Magic, but Courtney Lee blew his shot at it.

A shot that couldn't have been much easier.

Lee missed a layup that would have won Game 2 of the NBA finals at the fourth-quarter buzzer, and the Magic lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 101-96 in overtime Sunday night, falling into a 2-0 hole.

A perfectly executed play should have given the Magic their first finals victory. Instead, it joins Nick Anderson's botched free throws from the 1995 finals as the biggest heartbreaking moments in franchise history.

The Magic had the ball on the sideline with the game tied at 88 and 0.6 seconds left. Rashard Lewis set a pick on Kobe Bryant that freed Lee to cut to the basket, and Hedo Turkoglu lofted a pass that led Lee right under the basket.

Lee leaped to catch it, but perhaps bothered by Pau Gasol rushing over, threw it off the glass too hard as time expired.

The rookie guard immediately put his hands over his head in disbelief and walked toward the bench in that same pose as teammates came onto the court to console him. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy had a pained look on his face, perhaps aware his team had just blown the best chance it was going to get to seize home-court advantage before heading back to Florida.

The loss Sunday came on the 14th anniversary of Orlando's NBA finals debut — an equally painful one. Poised to beat the defending champion Houston Rockets in Game 1, the Magic watched Anderson brick four consecutive free throws and ended up losing 120-118 in overtime.

Same date, same painful June 7 ending for the Magic.


by the associated press

Lakers home for the Championship

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's going to be Orlando, not Boston, in the NBA finals. Even though the opponent is different, the Los Angeles Lakers are still consumed with redeeming themselves after last year's abject failure.

Their humiliating 131-92 dismissal by the Celtics in Game 6 last year still stings.

"We know what it feels like to lose and we just want to come out there and amend that," coach Phil Jackson said Sunday.

A year ago, Pau Gasol had never played in the NBA finals, so he was excited just to be there.

Not this time.

"The team right now is hungry and focused," he said. "This year we have a mission. It's like, 'OK, we're in the finals, now let's go to work.' It's a big difference."

Another difference is that the Lakers have home-court advantage this year. Games 1 and 2 are Thursday and next Sunday at Staples Center before the best-of-7 series moves to Orlando for up to three games.

"It's nice to have home-court advantage, but it's still not something to rely on in this kind of a series," Jackson said. "Orlando is one of the better road teams in the league the last two years."

No doubt Jackson will remind his team that both Houston and Denver won at Staples in the past two rounds, costing the Lakers home-court advantage.

"That's something you don't want to do in the finals with this kind of 2-3-2 setup," he said. "It's just about trying to get a leg up right off the bat so you have advantage."

After taking Saturday off, the Lakers reconvened Sunday for a video session. Except for Gasol and Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant and the other starters departed without speaking to the media.

Having played 13 games in 26 days to reach the finals, the Lakers are taking advantage of the six-day break before making one last push at a 16th NBA championship.

"We got really banged up in these last two series," Jackson said. "There are a number of guys that physically could use the days off."

They include Lamar Odom (sore back), Trevor Ariza (sore hip and groin) and Luke Walton (ankle).

"We've been in situations where we had days of rest and then we were a little sluggish at the beginning of a series," Gasol said. "Now there's no slacking, no slipping or nothing. We're ready to start and we're ready to play."

Bryant admitted during the Western Conference finals that he's not sleeping much. He's been sending text messages to Gasol in the wee hours and getting responses.

"We exchanged a couple of text messages making sure we're on the same page," Gasol said. "It just brings us together."

The Lakers' immediate problem is how to contain Dwight Howard. He averaged 21.5 points and 16 rebounds when the Magic swept them in two regular-season games.

"I don't think there have been many players like him because of his physical gifts and attributes," Gasol said. "You have to be really focused on him, don't let him get any deep catches and don't let him get going or confident."

Howard does most of the damage inside, while Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus and Rafer Alston are threats from 3-point range.

"It's to your advantage not to double against this team," Jackson said. "They're going to threaten you with that (outside shooting), but really it's their inside game that you have to be concerned about."

Gasol believes the Lakers own an advantage that Cleveland lacked in losing the Eastern Conference finals to the Magic.

"They didn't have that balance of an inside-outside game and we do have that and we will be a tougher matchup," he said. "Let's see if we give them more of an outside shot or we let Dwight go to work a little more and see what he can do. He's becoming a pretty good passer off the post and making smart decisions."

With Orlando's quartet throwing up 3-pointers from all corners of the court, Fisher figures rebounding could be a key difference in the finals.

"There's going to be a lot of long rebounds from the 3-point shots, so for perimeter players especially, we'll have to make sure we're getting in there and grabbing a few extra ones," he said.


by the associated press

Lakers take game 5 from Nuggets

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Lakers owned the fourth quarter against Denver. Now they have a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points, Lamar Odom had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Pau Gasol added 14 points and 10 rebounds in Los Angeles' 103-94 victory Wednesday night.

Game 6 is Friday in Denver, where the Lakers lost Game 4 by 19 points.

"Got to come ready to play," Bryant said. "We made a lot of mistakes the last time, the mistakes that took place were execution, and we didn't do things at the defensive end.

"We'll come ready to play."

Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points, hitting 12 of 13 free throws, and Kenyon Martin and Chauncey Billups added 12 points each for the Nuggets.

The teams were tied after the first, second and third quarters for just the fourth time in NBA playoff history.

So it all came down to the final 12 minutes.

Bryant, Odom and Gasol teamed for all but seven of the Lakers' points in the fourth. They opened on an 11-0 run for their first lead of the second half and it was capped by Shannon Brown's jumper that beat the shot clock.

The Nuggets used a 13-6 run to close to 93-89. Linas Kleiza scored seven straight and Anthony had six in the spurt.

But then the Lakers regained control and finished off the victory. They improved to 20-0 in Game 5s at home when a series is tied 2-2.

Bryant said he changed his role from the what it had been in the series.

"It was a big gamble for me coming in, but I wanted to change my approach this game and be more of a decoy," he said after adding eight assists, several out of double-teams in the fourth quarter. "The past couple games they really were loading to my side and I figured I could be a decoy and try to give chances to my teammates."

Anthony hit a jumper to get Denver to 96-91 with 1:24 remaining. But the Nuggets went cold from the field over the final 3:38, while the Lakers capitalized at the line. Los Angeles outscored Denver 10-5 in that span, including going 6 of 8 from the line.

Denver returns home needing a victory to send the series back to Los Angeles for a Game 7 on Sunday. The Nuggets have never won a best-of-7 series after losing Game 1.

The good kind of history is seemingly on the Lakers' side. They haven't lost a best-of-7 series that was tied 2-2 after winning Game 5 since the 1969 NBA finals against Boston.

Denver twice led by seven points in the third quarter only to see the Lakers tie it at 76 on a 3-pointer by Bryant to end the period. Los Angeles never led, but managed the two ties.

In a first half featuring 13 ties, the teams ended up even after both the first and second quarters. On the Lakers' final play, Bryant held the ball at midcourt as the clock ticked down before driving and kicking to Sasha Vujacic, who hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 56-all going into halftime. The Lakers were 0 for 7 from long range until then.

Notes:@ The Lakers were involved the other three playoff games were tied through the first three quarters, the last was in 1964 against St. Louis. ... Denver's Nene fouled out with 4:02 remaining, with four points and eight rebounds. He has fouled out of three game, ... Famous faces in the crowd: Hugh Hefner and his three girlfriends, Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington, Ron Artest of the Houston Rockets, Zac Efron and NBA centers past and present Bill Russell and Kevin Love.


by the associated press