Lakers Advance to Finals
The Lakers made it look easy last night. They stomped Denver, 119-92, to advance to the 2009 NBA Finals.
“We saved the best for last,” said LA Coach Phil Jackson afterwards.
That was most obvious on offense. The Lakers shot an amazing 57 per cent from the field. Kobe Bryant led the way, of course. He shot 60 per cent, making 6-10 field goals in both the first and second half.
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Bryant was a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe. He also had 10 assists. Pau Gasol was strong, too, dropping 20 points, pulling in 12 rebounds and dishing six assists.
Lamar Odam also had 20 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles. Trevor Ariza added 17, most in the first half to help the Lakers take control early and finish ahead, 53-40, at intermission.
“Maybe we caught our opponent a little bit off stride tonight,” Jackson said. “We were able to keep Denver from running. We played at the highest level. Shots fell from all
spots on the floor.
“I admire Denver’s ability to get to the basket,” Jackson said. “We did a good job of stopping that.”
Denver shot 43 per cent for the game, which isn’t awful. But the Nuggets never got a rhythm, never made a prolonged run. Credit the Laker defense for some of that.
The Laker coach has a great track record in the playoffs. After eliminating Denver, he is 43-0 in series that his team wins game one.
Jackson has nine NBA titles in the books. Six were with the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. Three were with LA when Shaquille O’Neal wore the purple and gold.
The nine rings ties him with Red Auerbach, who won nine championships in Boston between 1950 and 1965. If the Lakers win the 2009 NBA title, Jackson will stand alone on top.
His winning percentage is already remarkable. In the regular season it is .705. In the playoffs, it is .695.
Friday night’s win looked like the Lakers returned to the form that led them to dominating, large margin wins throughout the regular season. LA won 65 games in the regular season, second best in the league to Cleveland’s 66.
Cleveland may be the Lakers opponent in the finals, which start next Thursday June 4. But first the Cavs have to overcome a 3-2 deficit in their Eastern Conference Finals series with Orlando. Game six of that series is scheduled tonight.
Kobe wants to add another championship to his NBA resume as well, of course. He won three in a row from 2000-2003. But that was Shaq’s team. Now the Lakers are Kobe’s team and it looks like the scoring wizard is on his way to another golden ring.
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