Lakers clinch West Conference Championship with victory over Kings
The Lakers have gone through this season with a word in their minds: uncertainty. First were the Kobe trade rumors, then it came Andrew Bynum to save their lives for a few games before getting benched the rest of the season for injuries, then Kobe Bryant started to show the long awaited signs of leadership that every single Lakers fan has being asking for since he got in the team, and then it came Pau Gasol, the guy that along Bryant saved the Lakers from sinking.
And despite all that, they got crowned as the NBA Western Conference champions after taking down the Kings by 124-101 yesterday at Staples Center. Even Kobe got an ovation after sitting down the whole 4th quarter, since Los Angeles was leading 101-72 at the end of the third.
Kobe Bryant is the favored one this year in the run for the MVP, something that might come at the perfect time, since this will be his first NBA Most Valuable Player award in a 11-year career span, this in despite of being regarded by respected critics as one of the best players in NBA history for many years.
Pau Gasol finished with 22, while Kobe got 20 and team mate Lamar Odom helped with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while for the Kings, who was playing without their top 3 scorers, Kevin Martin, Ron Artest and Brad Miller, and so team mates Quincy Douby came up with a career high 32 points, Beno Udrih helped with 22 and Francisco Garcia finished with 15, but it was just not enough to overcome the outstanding offensive by the Lakers.
