Congrats Lakers
Kobe Bryant carried the Los Angeles Lakers to their 15th title with a 99-86 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 5 last night and it has to be said they were much the better team in this best of seven series.
The Lakers won their 15th world championship – and 10th since the team moved to Southern California in 1960 from Minneapolis and also assured their coach, Phil Jackson, of finally pulling ahead of the Boston Celtics’ Red Auerbach as being the only one ever to have 10 NBA titles on his resume.
It was a comprehensive victory as they finished off the Magic in style after a slow first period in which at one stretch they trailed by nine points (19-10) but they went on a frenzied 16-0 spurt in the second to take a 56-46 half time edge and they widened the gap during the final 24 minutes in which they never were seriously threatened.
As always, it was Kobe Bryant artfully orchestrating the proceedings with his scoring (30 points) passing (five assists), defense (two steals, four blocks, six rebounds), not to mention relentlessly cajoling teammates to keep playing hard and not to let themselves down.
The series was keenly fought and at times extremely close but overall the Lakers had the one man who was the vital difference and they emerged the worthy winners.
