The Los Angeles Lakers added their first victory in the NBA Western Conference finals after beating the Phoenix Suns at the Staples Center 128-107 this past Monday. The victory was led by Kobe Bryant and seconded by Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

The current champions got their seventh consecutive win in the playoffs, showing Phoenix that they can play their best offensive basketball with their starters at their best level. Kobe Bryant had a great game, adding 40 points with a good shooting percentage (13/23 and 11/12 in free throws), absolutely demolishing the third quarter, where the Suns’ defense could not stop him as he made 21 points.

The Suns had a promising start, having a run of 7-0 and a 22-17 lead before the Lakers reacted with some great shooting. Odom entered inspired, adding 7 points to help his team take the advantage, while Kobe Bryant also contributed with the last seven points in the first quarter to end ahead in the score, 35-26.

In the second quarter, the pace of the game was almost the same; the Lakers were controlling the scoreboard with some great baskets from Odom and Jordan Farmar, while the Suns were trying to find their way back to the game. And they were close to doing so after cutting the score to 5 points (49-54) with 3:16 left. However, the Lakers got a run of 8-3 to end the quarter winning by 7 points, 55-62.

Entering the third quarter, the teams began exchanging baskets; Bryant and Gasol were unstoppable while Steve Nash and his teammates just tried to maintain themselves in the scoreboard. However, the shooting from the Lakers’ duo was so incredible that the Suns couldn’t keep up and the Lakers gained an advantage of 14 points at the end of the quarter (93-79).

During the last quarter, the Lakers kept their intensity in the offense while controlling and maintaining their lead by taking advantage of their height in the paint. Phoenix, despite its good intentions, couldn’t find its game. LA made a 14-2 run with 6:51 left to extend the team’s lead to 28 points, 113-87. The Suns responded with a run of 8-0 with 3:32, cutting the score to 20 points. However, the determination of the Lakers was so great that Phoenix couldn’t do anything else in the Staples Center. The Suns lost the game by 21 points, 128-107.

At the end of the game, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson praised the performance of Kobe Bryant as well as the team’s effort and the players’ aggressiveness throughout the game.

“Kobe carried a lot of the offense tonight, no doubt. I will say he was going to shoulder the game. He was going to take it on. He's been optimistic through the whole week. He felt that he had the amount of rest and shooting he had to have,” said Jackson

The Suns’ coach, Alvin Gentry, agreed that Kobe was the key figure for the Lakers’ victory.

“Kobe kind of controlled the whole game. I thought we could have withstood the game that he had but when he's making his jumper like that there's not a whole lot you can do,” said Gentry.

Suns point guard Steve Nash acknowledged that the Lakers had an advantage in the paint that had to be dealt with.

"They re probably going to continue to be taller than us as they series goes on, so we've got to make everything as tough as possible (for them),” said Steve Nash.

The best scorers for the Lakers were Kobe Bryant with 40 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds; Pau Gasol with 21 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds; Lamar Odom with 19 points, 19 rebounds and 3 assists; Ron Artest with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists; and finally Jordan Farmar with 10 points and 5 assists. For the Phoenix Suns the best scorers were Amare Stoudamire with 23 points and 3 rebounds; Jason Richardson with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists; Robin Lopez with 14 points and 6 rebounds; Steve Nash with 13 points, 13 assists and 4 rebounds; Goran Dragic with 13 points and 3 rebounds; and ultimately Leandro Barbosa with 11 points and 2 assists.

The second game will take place on Wednesday May 19th, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

About the Author

Ally White has been a prominent writer on daily NBA games; sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.