Western Conference:

Denver 103 - Los Angeles 105

Los Angeles leads series 1-0

Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony had a scoring duel in Game 1 of the Western Finals, but Kobe and the Lakers came out on top. (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

• The Denver Nuggets came out strong, but couldn’t hold on for a win versus Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers. Carmelo Anthony of the Nuggets dueled with Bryant, with ‘Melo finishing with 39 points (on 14-20 shooting) and Kobe with 40 (13-28 shooting). Pau Gasol had 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Derek Fisher added 13 points, including some timely threes to keep the Lakers in the game.
• Denver opened with a 31-23 lead at the end of the first quarter behind hot shooting from Anthony. He and the Nuggets got shut down in the 2nd quarter though, and got outscored by the Lakers 23-32 in the quarter, including a last second trey by Derek Fisher, to trail by 1 point at the half.
• The battle continued on, but late in the fourth, with the Nuggets trailing by two, 101-99, Anthony Carter had his inbounds pass stolen by a streaking Trevor Ariza, who then passed to a trailing Fisher for a basket to put the Lakers up 103-99. Billups hit a three pointer on Denver’s possession to pull the Nuggets within 1 with 5 seconds left, but Kobe made two free throws to put the lead back up to 3. J.R. Smith was then intentionally fouled during Denver’s next possession, and he made his first free throw, and intentionally missed the second, but Bryant was able to secure the rebound and the win for LA.
• The Nuggets had Nene scoring 14 points on 6-9 shooting, but he was plagued by foul trouble the entire game. Kenyon Martin added 15 points and 8 rebounds and Chauncey Billups had 18 points, but shot only 5-13. J.R. Smith didn’t heat up until it was too late, and he finished with only 8 points. The Nuggets need more efficient offense from their guards, as ‘Melo can’t pull off a win by himself. Their poor free throw shooting (missing 9 freebies in the first quarter alone) also came back to bite them - making those would have padded their early lead greatly and made it harder for the Lakers to come back.
• The Lakers, on the other hand, were pretty cold from the field, and were frustrated all game by the Nuggets’ physical defense. However, they had 17 offensive rebounds to Denver’s 7, with 6 by Pau Gasol, which led to a lot of momentum-stifling baskets. It was enough to win, despite poor games from Andrew Bynum, who had 6 points and 6 rebounds in 15 foul plagued minutes, and Lamar Odom, who had 7 points and 8 rebounds in 33 minutes.
• ‘Melo and Kobe were at it the entire game, guarding each other physically, and both earned technicals for complaining at the officials. Still, it was a joy to watch this tightly contested game, with both star players battling and playing hard to lead their teams. The Nuggets showed that they can keep up with the Lakers, despite their late mental lapses. On the other hand, the Lakers also showed their inconsistent side, with a poor first quarter before bouncing back huge. They’ll need to avoid being put in holes like that before they tire out.

Notes:

• It’s a double cause for celebration in Los Angeles, as the LA Clippers won the lottery to end up with the top pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. They will presumably pick the project Number 1, Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin, although Spanish teen phenom Ricky Rubio and UConn center Hasheem Thabeet are also projected to be top 3. The Clippers haven’t had a great history of good management (picking eventual bust Michael Olowokandi first overall in 1998), and they can’t really go wrong with Griffin, who was the National College Player of the Year last season, since Rubio is still very young, and Thabeet is not as polished offensively as Griffin (who averaged 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds in last season’s NCAA).
• Memphis got the 2nd overall pick, and Oklahoma City will pick third. Sacramento and Washington, who had the worst records in the NBA, pick 4th and 5th respectively.