The Los Angeles Lakers have made the NBA Finals for the very first time after beating the 2007 champs the San Antonio Spurs 100-92, winning a best-of-seven series 4-1. Kobe Bryant was the star of the night, scoring 36 points as the Lakers came back from a 17 point deficit to take home an eight point victory.
Pau Gasol contributed with a 12 points and 19 rebounds while Lamar Odom got 13 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who will play the winner of the Celtics/Pistons series, which currently has Boston leading 3-2. Game six is in Detroit tonight. Tony Parker was the top scorer for the Spurs with 23 points, while Tim Duncan added 19. However, these were the only scorers of note as the Spurs sputtered towards the end.

The Los Angeles Lakers can go to sleep tonight knowing they’re the best team in the Western Conference.
Pau Gasol scored 22 points and Kobe Bryant had 20 - before both sat out the fourth quarter - as the Lakers destroyed the Sacramento Kings 124-101 on Tuesday night to clinch the top spot in the Western Conference.

“The Western Conference has been brutal all season, so it’s pretty special to have the best record,” said Bryant “It’s an amazing accomplishment for us.”

Gasol, who came over to the Lakers from Memphis in February, was thrilled to be a major factor in clinching their first conference banner since the 1999-2000 NBA championship season. 

“It feels good, we worked hard for it and we earned it,” said Gasol, who hit nine-of-11 floor shots and grabbed seven rebounds. “I’m ready to get this thing going and to face another real challenge. Now the real fun starts.”

Though the Lakers have home-court advantage through the first three rounds of the playoffs, they won’t know until Wednesday night whether they open up on Sunday against the Denver Nuggets or Dallas Mavericks.