Lakers Roll to 2-0 Lead!

With Kobe Bryant finally winning his first MVP award, many thought that he and his Los Angeles Lakers teammates might have a letdown against the Utah Jazz tonight in game two of their best-of-seven round two playoff series tonight at Staples Center. The Lakers did have a letdown, but fortunately it only lasted about 4 1/2 minutes into the game.

The Jazz kept it close early, actually leading 13-12 with 7 1/2 minutes to play in the first quarter. The Lakers then went on a 21-5 run to close the quarter to take a 33-18 lead. From there, the Lakers were never seriously challenged until late in the fourth quarter when the Jazz cut the lead to 99-94 with 5:58 to play. But, just like in game one on Sunday afternoon, the Lakers then put the Jazz away just as quickly as they had inched close. Sasha Vujacic hit a 20 foot jumper and Derek Fisher connected on his fourth three-pointer of the night to stretch the margin back to 10 points. The Jazz desperately tried to get back into the game in the closing 1:01, fouling the Lakers six times! It didn't work though as the Lakers made 11 of their 12 free throws, and finished with a 120-110 victory to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

The usual suspects did their thing for the Lakers tonight. The newest league MVP had 34 points (11-for-18 from the field, 11-for-12 from the line), eight rebounds and six assists. "Mr. Double Double," aka: Lamar Odom had 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Pau Gasol had a "quad 5"... scoring 20 points while grabbing five rebounds, dishing out five assists, and blocking five shots. "D-Fish" scored 22 points including the aforementioned four three-pointers. "The Machine," as Vujacic is called by his teammates, scored 12 points off the bench.

Game three of the Series will be on Friday night in Utah at 9:00 ET/6:00 PT and can be seen on ESPN. GO LAKERS!

-----