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| MAGIC | 24 | 19 | 15 | 17 | 75 |
| LAKERS | 22 | 31 | 29 | 18 | 100 |
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Postgame: Stan Van Gundy
Game 1 Recap
Practice: Rafer Alston
Practice: Marcin GortatRecap:
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Kobe Bryant has waited a year, a long year, for another chance at NBA title. He's not about to let this one slip away.
The Olympic gold medal was nice. Not nearly enough.
He covets another golden trophy.
"I just want it so bad, that's all,'' Bryant said. "I just want it really bad.''
Bryant, playing like a man possessed, scored 40 points and the Los Angeles Lakers, who have waited nearly one year for a chance to erase bitter memories of a Boston beatdown and a championship they felt belonged to them, pounded the Orlando Magic 100-75 in Game 1 on Thursday night.
This year, nothing short of a 15th title will do for the Lakers.
And with the sensational Bryant out front, they may be on their way.
Game 2 is Sunday night at star-studded Staples Center, where actors Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and rapper Kanye West had front-row seats to see another virtuoso performance by Bryant, who scored 18 points in the third quarter as the Lakers opened a 26-point lead and embarrassed the Magic.
The last time the Lakers were seen in the finals, they were heading toward their locker room in Boston last June and summer break after being drubbed by 39 points in a series-ending Game 6 by the Celtics. The renewed rivalry between the league's superpowers never panned out.
Bryant and his teammates have used that humiliation to motivate them all season and throughout these playoffs.
They are on a mission.
The Magic, who went 2-0 against the Lakers in the regular season, appeared a touch overwhelmed in their first finals appearance since 1995. Not even the return of All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson from a four-month layoff following shoulder surgery could help the Eastern Conference champions.
Orlando center Dwight Howard was engulfed by two and three Lakers every time he touched the ball and scored 12 points - 10 on free throws - on just 1-of-6 shooting.
And the Magic's outside shooters, so deadly while eliminating MVP LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, were off the mark.
The Magic went just 8-of-23 on 3s and shot only 30 percent overall.
"We've never had a shooting night this bad,'' Howard said. "We've just got to come out and play a lot harder than we did tonight.''
Orlando is facing some daunting odds, too.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson, seeking a record 10th title, is 43-0 in series in which his team wins Game 1.
Bryant, who added eight rebounds and eight assists, knows the Magic are still dangerous.
"This is a resilient team,'' he said. "They've been through a lot of adverse situations before. This is nothing new to them. We've got to forget about this and move on.''
On the dry-erase board in Orlando's locker room, coach Stan Van Gundy, in handwriting as neat as a schoolteacher's, devoted two sections on how he wanted his team to defend Bryant.
Nothing worked.
The self-proclaimed "Black Mamba'' slithered around Magic defenders with ease. Bryant scored an effortless 18 points in the first half and then took over in the third quarter, scoring 18 of L.A.'s 29 points with an assortment of jumpers, fadeaways and layups.
"He was great. He was tremendous,'' said Van Gundy, who felt his team did a poor job defending the Lakers' pick and roll. "We were giving him too much space on his pull-up jumpers and he did a good job of attacking us. I know this: We are a lot better than we showed.''
With the 24-second shot clock running down on one possession, he froze Mickael Pietrus with a head fake and then sliced between Howard and Rashard Lewis, who looked as if they might applaud him, too. Moments later, Bryant whipped a pass to teammate Trevor Ariza, who buried a 3-pointer to make it 80-58.
Bryant pumped both fists and yelled toward Ariza. But this time, Bryant, who can be demanding of those around him, was offering support. Accused of being aloof and selfish, he has become a better teammate and a better leader.
On the eve of Game 1, Bryant said winning his first title since teammate Shaquille O'Neal was traded in 2004 was not that important to him. Bryant bristled at the notion that he wouldn't have any of his three titles - from 2000-02 - without Shaq as nonsense.
He says he wants No. 4 because it's the one in front of him.
And he's three wins from getting it.
"We've just got to keep our foot on the gas and keep our head down and just keep on working,'' Bryant said.
Nelson sat the first quarter as he has throughout the playoffs, but Van Gundy started him in the second quarter and the healed guard made an immediate impact.
Nervously chomping on his black mouthpiece and darting as always, he made a sweet bounce pass to Marcin Gortat for a dunk on Orlando's first possession in the period. Nelson then set up Lewis for a 3 before making his first basket in four months on a short baseline jumper.
Nelson was back and the Magic, who dethroned the champion Celtics and toppled King James, looked as if they'd give the Lakers a run.
Bryant, though, is running his own race.
Notes: Bryant's 40 were a career high in the finals, and it was the 10th time he has scored 40 or more in the playoffs. ... Van Gundy said the toughest part of his decision to play Nelson was telling guard Tyronn Lue he would be inactive. ... Bryant is ranked as the world's 10th biggest celebrity by Forbes. Bryant was the second highest ranked athlete, trailing only Tiger Woods, who was No. 5. According to the magazine, Bryant made $45 million in salary and endorsements this year. ... With 206 playoff wins, Jackson trails only Hall of Fame hockey coach Scotty Bowman (223) for the most wins in postseason history. ... Van Gundy drew a huge laugh before the game when he was asked if he was frightened by facing Jackson and his fingers full of nine NBA rings. "I guess if one of the NBA players threatened to kick my butt, I'd be intimidated,'' Van Gundy said. "Phil sitting down there on his chair doesn't intimidate me.''
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Preview:
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- His smile has vanished, replaced by something closer to a scowl. His days of joking around are seemingly on hold.
Kobe Bryant has gotten deadly serious.
He has that look, you've seen the one. It's the cold-blooded, get-out-of-my-way-or-pay glare he'll shoot at a teammate who messes up or an opponent who dares to try and stop him.
The Black Mamba is poised to strike.
The NBA finals are in his sights.
After a humbling loss to the Boston Celtics in last year's finals, Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers will be seeking atonement - and a 15th championship - when they face the resurrected Orlando Magic in Game 1 on Thursday night at the Staples Center.
For Bryant, the game's greatest late-game closer since Michael Jordan, it's a second opportunity at shutting up some of his loudest detractors. He has won three titles, but hasn't been able to get No. 4 since Shaquille O'Neal was traded after the 2004 season to Miami.
Bryant was asked Wednesday if he needed a post-Shaq championship to enhance his legacy.
"Not at all,'' Bryant said. "It means nothing. To me, it's about winning another one, just because I want to win another one.''
Before catching his breath, Bryant, who had been loose and relaxed earlier this week, then took a verbal swipe worthy of a flagrant foul at O'Neal, his former teammate with whom he famously feuded.
"People think Shaq would have won a championship without me on that team,'' he said. "They're crazy.''
This is Bryant's chance. He doesn't want to waste it.
And O'Neal, a 7-foot timeline connecting finals appearances by both franchises, posted a message on his Twitter.com site saying he was pulling for Bryant.
"I am saying it today and today only,'' Shaq tweeted. "I want kobe bryant to get number four, spread da word.''
From the moment Bryant dejectedly walked off the floor in Boston last June following L.A.'s 39-point loss in Game 6, he has been focused on a return. He helped restore U.S. basketball's world supremacy by leading the Americans to an Olympic gold medal in China last summer.
That was the Redeem Team. He's on another one.
"My next goal is winning the NBA championship,'' he said. "We don't want to fall short of that.''
Los Angeles would seem to have everything - history, experience, star power, coaching, A-List celebrities - over Orlando.
The Lakers have won 14 titles. Orlando, 0.
The Lakers have won 61 finals games. Orlando, 0.
Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson has nine championship rings. Orlando's Stan Van Gundy 1 - but he got it as an assistant and doesn't know where it is.
Yet the Magic, making their first appearance in the finals since 1995, won both regular-season matchups against the Lakers and are capable of an upset.
"They've beaten us three of the last four times,'' Bryant said. "So we're very, very concerned.''
They should be.
Dwight Howard, Orlando's fun-loving Superman of a center, is the league's latest incarnation of Shaq. He can bend backboards, take over a game at both ends and crack up his teammates with a killer impersonation of the frumpy and grumpy Van Gundy.
In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, Howard scored 40 points with 14 rebounds as the Magic finished off Cleveland and sawed the Kobe Bryant-LeBron James dream finals matchup in half.
On their way to The Finals, the 3-point-happy Magic (they made 62 3s against the Cavs and are averaging 8.6 per game in the postseason) have knocked off the favored Celtics, Cavaliers and can now dispatch the Lakers.
That would be quite a trifecta. No team has ever beaten three 60-win teams in the same postseason.
Superman doesn't mind his role as Underdog.
"We've always been overlooked,'' Howard said. "We were overlooked in the first series against Philly. We were overlooked against Boston. We were overlooked against the Cavs, and we're still overlooked. We don't want to be a team that everybody picks to win, because I think as a young team, once everybody starts saying, 'OK, you're this or you're that,' sometimes you tend to forget what got you there.
"Everybody picking against us motivates us. It drives us to do something greater.''
The Magic's season seemed doomed when All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson went down with a shoulder injury in February. The team survived the adversity and now may get a recovered Nelson back for the finals.
Van Gundy was still weighing whether to play Nelson, who averaged 27.5 points in the two wins over Los Angeles. He isn't worried about Nelson disrupting Orlando's chemistry, and Van Gundy is not convinced his return would provide any goose bumps.
"It's not like he hasn't played with our guys,'' Van Gundy said, "and I don't really think our guys need an emotional boost. I don't think it's going to be a Willis Reed moment or anything.''
The overriding theme during the Lakers' post-practice availability on Wednesday was how last season's finals lessons will help them this time. A year ago, many of Los Angeles' young players got swept up and overrun by the mammoth media attention.
The images of Boston coach Doc Rivers bathing in Gatorade, Kevin Garnett kissing Boston's midcourt leprechaun logo and Paul Pierce hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy have stuck with them.
The Lakers want to make them go away.
"We're upset about losing in The Finals,'' forward Pau Gasol said. "We should have given it a better shot than we did. It didn't happen, and now we're here again and we can give it a much better shot and really get it done.'' '
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Game Notes:
L.A. Lakers (NBA Finals 2009): Orlando is 11-30 all-time vs. the L.A. Lakers (7-14 at home, 4-16 on the road) during the regular season, including 2-0 this season… Orlando went 0-2 last season against the Lakers...The Magic have lost 16 of the last 21 games in this series…Orlando has lost eight of the last 11 meetings at home, and snapped a 10- game losing skid at Los Angeles on Dec. 2, 2007 (104-97)… Dec. 20 vs. L.A. Lakers – Magic 106, Lakers 103: Jameer Nelson continued his red-hot play, leading the Magic with 27 points, as Orlando overcame a 10-point deficit and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 106-103, at a sold-out Amway Arena. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Magic and their sixth straight at home. Rashard Lewis scored 22 points, while Dwight Howard tallied 18 points and 12 rebounds. Kobe Bryant led all scorers with a season-high 41 points. The Lakers led 58-49 at halftime, as Bryant scored 25 first half points. Orlando opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run and took an 85-84 edge heading into the fourth quarter, after Nelson scored 15 points during the frame. Trailing 104-103, the Lakers got the ball back, but Sasha Vujacic missed a three-pointer from the corner with 3.9 seconds left. After Howard converted a pair of free throws, Los Angeles had one final shot. However, Bryant’s long three-point shot was off the mark and the Magic escaped with the win. Orlando held the Lakers to just 41.4 percent shooting from the field and overcame missing 15 free throws… Jan. 16 @ L.A. Lakers – Magic 109, Lakers 103: Jameer Nelson scored 28 and Dwight Howard poured in his fourth 20-point, 20- rebound performance of the season as the Orlando Magic swept the season series with the L.A. Lakers for the first time in franchise history with a 109-103 win in Los Angeles. Nelson took control of the game late in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of the Magic’s final 12 points, including two three-pointers and four free throws over the final 1:26 to extend Orlando’s winning streak to six games. The Magic, who outrebounded L.A. 54-40, held the Lakers to below 40 percent shooting in the game despite Kobe Bryant’s triple-double performance of 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. LAKERS: 46 pts., Shaquille O’Neal (@ Orlando, 3-8-95)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 41 pts., Kobe Bryant (@ Orlando, 11-12-04, @ Orlando, 12-20-08)
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