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Kobe Takes Over

by Kenrick Thomas

created June 05, 2009, last edited June 07, 2009

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The Los Angeles Lakers took game one of the NBA Finals against the Orlando Magic, 100-75.

The Magic couldn't find an answer for Lakers guard, Kobe Bryant. He finished with 40 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds. Magic's head coach, Stan Van Gundy, understood his teams problem defending Bryant.

"He was great. He was tremendous," said Van Gundy. "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."

After a great performance, Bryant believes his team needs to move on and forget about this victory.

"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."

Staying humble is Bryant's focus. He wants the Lakers to continue to work hard, and keep the same plan.

"We've just got to keep our foot on the gas and keep our head down and just keep on working," Bryant said.

Lakers forward, Pau Gasol, had 16 points and 8 rebounds. Forward Lamar Odom, led the bench with 14 rebounds and 11 points.

Magic's center, Dwight Howard couldn't produce offensively. He finished with 12 points and was 1-6 from the field. Dwight still led with 15 rebounds. Forward Hedo Turkoglu had 13 points, but was 3-11 from the field. Mikael Pietrus led the bench with 14 points and he played 32 minutes.

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The oldest manVarsity

157 days ago

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Last night Kobie Bryant was as dominating as Elgin Baylor was against the Celtics when he scored 60 or 61 points. He was truly unstoppable and didn't even take a 3 point shot all night. I don't think there are many around that remember that night with Elgin. He went this way and that way and up and down and over and under and made the Celtics look like school children play the game. Even Russell was not able to stop him. But different players and different positions and as great as K. Bryant is I for one would still take Elgin over any of them night in and night out. He didn't play defense because he didn't have to but he could when he wanted to and his rebounding and shooting and offensive skills have not be bettered since. They are different eras and can only be compared in some ways. But Elgin Baylor was one of the most unstoppable players to play in the NBA. Over 38 points per game one season from a 6'5" forward with a bad knee, let someone show me anyone today that stands up to that. A little bias maybe but I will take Elgin and Jerry as the best front/backcourt pair over a career or careers. Winning championships isn't the only judge of a true champion. There has been many great players in all the eras of the NBA and there will continue to be hopefully for many years to come. And once again last night stands out as one of the truly great evenings of the NBA Championship series.

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