Picture Gallery (LADN)

May 21, 2008 - STAPLES CENTER - LOS ANGELES. With 5:54 left in the third quarter the defending champions had a 20-point lead and were well in their way to a shocking win. But Kobe Bryant started to shot, his teammates started to play suffocating defense and the Lakers made a fantastic comeback to defeat the Spurs 89-85 in the first game of the Western Finals.

Kobe led L.A. with 27 point, 25 of them in the second half and 9 assists. Gasol added 19 points and 7 rebounds.

As expected, the game started with Bruce Bowen aggressively chasing Kobe all over the court, but instead of forcing his shots the MVP spent his time just finding his teammates. In the first quarter he got 4 assist and no points, but Radmanovic had all his 10 points.The Lakers lost the period 27-24.

Three and half minutes into the second, L.A. reserves got to tie it at 33 but then was when the debacle started. Tim Duncan was completely unstoppable, being a nightmare for Gasol at both ends of the floor. When with 1:29 left in the first half Kobe Bryant made his first field goal, the only one in 3 attempts in the half, the Spurs had already scored 49 points (49-41). It was 51-43 by halftime and things kept going downhill with the Lakers only scoring 2 points in the first 6 minutes of the third until a hook shot by Duncan made it 65-45 with 5:54 left.

Then suddenly Kobe decided it was his time to contribute with points, everybody played very strong defense and the Lakers closed the quarter with a 20-7 run that included 9 points from Kobe and 8 from Gasol to close the gap to 72-65 by the end of the period.

Kobe kept shooting in the fourth and based on his 14 points, the Lakers made the Spurs, an experienced team that knows how to close a game, look like rookies. San Antonio shot 3-for-21, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range in a quarter where the Lakers outscored them 24-13. Odom tied the game at 81 with 3:17 left and a free throw by Kobe 35 seconds later gave the Lakers their first lead of the game. A layup by Duncan tied it again at 85 with 41 seconds left but Kobe restored L.A.'s lead for good with 23 seconds to go with a 9-foot jump shot. Then Ginobili missed a 3-pointer and Sasha Vujacic sealed the scored with 2 free throws.

It was a difficult night for Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher, who combined for 12 points on 4-for-21 shooting, but both made key plays in the final period where they scored 4 points each.

Despite not shooting particularly well, Vujacic played a career playoff-high 31 1/2 minutes, but he earned his time with a good defense on Manu Ginobili, who looked affected by the accumulation of playing time and lacked his usual explosiveness.

Duncan led the Spurs with 30 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots. Tony Parker had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists; Bowen added 12 points, and Ginobili 10.