NBA Playoffs Rundown

LA Lakers 100 San Antonio 92: The LA Lakers are headed back to the NBA Finals after finishing off the San Antonio Spurs 4 games to 1. The Lakers at one point were down 17 in the first half but were able to cut that lead down to 6 by halftime. The Lakers will now go on to face the winner of the Detroit-Boston series.

Once again, Kobe Bryant was the man in this game. The 2008 MVP scored 17 of his 39 points in the 4th quarter to lead the Lakers to victory. Kobe is quite simply on a mission right now and it will be interesting to see how either Boston or Detroit tries to defend him in the NBA Finals. I'm not sure Kobe can be stopped right now and it wouldn't surprise me to see him go off for 40 plus every game on the finals.

The Lakers got a balanced effort on offense to help support Kobe with most of the role players chipping in with the scoring. Pau Gasol had a monster night on the boards though, ripping down 19 rebounds and scoring 12 points. It's about time Gasol realized that he is a big man and needs to hit the glass. The major complaint I have with his game is that he is not a great rebounder for his size. The Lakers would be even scarier if Gasol hit the glass like a true big man should. Lamar Odom in with 13 points and 8 rebounds for the Lakers.

For the Spurs, Manu Ginobili just could never really get it going in this series except for Game 3 and last night was no different. Ginobili finished a disappointing series with 9 points on just 3 of 9 shooting. Some of the other Spurs did pick up the slack for Ginobili, as Michael Finley finished with 13 points, Kurt Thomas finished with 11 points, and Brent Barry finished with 11 points as well. The Spurs do not usually get that much production out of their role players but in the end it wasn't enough anyway.

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker led the way for the Spurs as usual. Parker had the better shooting game between the two and finished with 23 points on 11 of 22 shooting. Duncan put up a triple double in this one but it was not enough for the Spurs to win. He finished with 19 points on 7 of 19 shooting, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Basically, the difference in this game was Kobe Bryant and the 39 points he was able to drop on the Spurs. I honestly can't wait for the NBA Finals just for the fact that Kobe might do something memorable now that he is the closest he's been to a title since Shaq left.