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 are just one win away from the NBA Finals after sending the San Antonio Spurs to their first home loss of the playoffs. Kobe Bryant collected 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who never trailed once last night and kept it up for a 93-91 victory. Brent Barry missed a contested 3-pointer for the Spurs as time expired. The Lakers have a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals and can advance to the NBA Finals against Boston or Detroit with a home win against the defending champion in Game 5 tomorrow. Tim Duncan had 29 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Spurs, while Tony Parker and Barry took 23 points each. Manu Ginobili, after scoring 30 points in San Antonio’s Game 3 win, was held to 7 points on 2-of-8 shooting.The Lakers have a 7-0 record at the Staples Center during the postseason and hasn’t lost at home in two months.

The Celtics host the Pistons tonight in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. The teams are tied at two games apiece.  Boston is 9-1 at home and 1-7 on the road in this year’s playoffs. Boston has survived two big close calls in the first round and semifinals. They knocked out the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks in seven games in the quarterfinals and hung on to defeat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in an even closer seven-game series. There’s a lot of playoff history between these two teams. Boston defeated the Pistons in the 1968, 1985 and 2002 semis, and also knocked out Detroit in seven games in the 1987 East finals.

Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs is the winner of the NBA Sixth Man Award given by Kia Motors. In order to be eligible for this award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started. Although Ginobili has started a number of games for the Spurs this season, he was eligible for the award because he came off of the bench far more frequently. He was moved earlier in the season from a starting role to a back-up role to give the Spurs’ reserves some extra offensive firepower.

Spurs officials say Ginobili received 615 out of a possible 620 points, including 123 of a possible 124 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns finished second with 283 points and Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks finished third with 44 points. Ginobili was the only player in the NBA to average at least 17 points in less than 32 minutes of playing time per game.