Kobe had 13 points in the first quarter, but slowed down throughout the game until the last two minutes.
The Lakers didn't box out and Howard was able to have too big of an impact. Vince Carter had a great first quarter where he scored 15 points, as he was a lot more effective when he attacked the basket.
Orlando looked like they had more weapons out there with Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Dwight Howard, and Rashard Lewis.
Kobe was the only one who looked dangerous out there in the first half. Bynum got in foul trouble again, no big surprise. As Phil Jackson said, "that's all he did in the finals last year".
Odom played okay off the bench, but he could have been more aggressive, because he is successful on most of his drives.
The game started to heat up with emotion in the second half. In the third quarter, Kobe boxed out Matt Barnes and they had something to say to each other after the play. It shouldn't have been a double tech because all Kobe did was put his hands up.
After that, the Lakers kept chipping away at the lead. Pau got pushed around by Howard all night. In the fourth, Dwight got away with grabbing Pau's jersey.
Ron Artest had another bad shooting night. He shot 2-10 from the field, and didn't play that great of defense on Carter.
The Lakers were down too much too late. If the Lakers played better in the first half, they wouldn't have had a problem. But Kobe made it a game towards the end as he hit a wild shot from the corner, which cut the lead to two.
Then Nelson missed one of two free throws. Kobe came down off a high screen and roll and hit a long two, which was originally called a three.
Then Carter missed one of two free throws. Kobe dribbled ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
