Los Angeles Lakers, Nba Playoffs | featured news

Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, but the series heads back to Staples Center on Sunday. The road to the NBA championship that the Lakers so desire has ran into a roadblock in the Western Conference semifinals.

Rockets center Yao Ming was ruled out for the remainder of the sesaon after a hairline fracture was found in his left foot.

Kobe Bryant has 33 points and Jordan Farmar fills in admirably for suspended Derek Fisher with 12 points, seven assists, five rebounds, two steals, one blocked shot and only one turnover in 33 minutes.

Down a player, weary from a brutal Game 2, on the road in a tougher-than-expected Western Conference semifinal series, the Lakers responded the only way they knew how.

Yao Ming, who briefly left with a knee injury in the closing minutes, had 28 points and 10 rebounds, to lead the Houston Rockets to a physical 100-92 victory win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Kobe Bryant followed his worst shooting game in years by scoring 38 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 108-94 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night and a 3-1 series lead.

Utah kept coming, relentlessly closing within six points time and again. The Lakers never let their lead get away. Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 22 and Lamar Odom had 19 off the bench in a 119-109 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, giving Los Angeles a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Pardon Phil Jackson's lack of enthusiasm for how the Los Angeles Lakers played in the second half. They piled up 62 points on Utah in the first half, then got outscored over the final 24 minutes.