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DENVER, Colorado: Kobe Bryant scored 31 points and
Pau Gasol added 21 to spark the Los Angeles Lakers past Denver
107-101 Monday, completing a first-round National Basketball
Association playoff sweep.
Bryant hit 12-of-24 from the
field, including scoring nine consecutive Laker points in a key
stretch late in the fourth quarter, and Lamar Odom added 14 points
for the Lakers, the top seeds in the West.
“They did a good job in the
third quarter denying me,” Bryant said. “We made our
adjustments, they made theirs and we made them pay in the fourth.”
The Nuggets became the first
50-win team ever swept out of the playoffs in the first round, the
Lakers taking the best-of-seven series in four games to book a
second-round Western Conference date with either Utah or Houston.
“In the West there are no easy
matchups,” Bryant said. “We’re looking forward to whoever we
face.”
The Lakers were also looking
forward to a rest before the next round.
“It’s extremely important to
relax, get home, rest a little bit, get some treatment and get ready
for the second round,” Bryant said.
J.R. Smith scored a playoff
career-high 26 points to lead the Nuggets, who went out in the first
round for the fifth season in a row. Allen Iverson added 22 points
and Carmelo Anthony scored 21.
“I feel like me and my
teammates gave everything they had and put everything on the
line,” Iverson said. “You have to accept that when guys give
everything they had. We gave everything we had. We just got beat by
a better team.” 
--AFP
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