USA - Kobe breaks out with 45 as Lakers eclipse Suns

NEW YORK (NBA) - Kobe Bryant scored 15 of his 45 points in the final period as the Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 95-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns, who now hold a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.

Bryant, a member of the Team USA squad, was supported by Lamar Odom's 18 points and 16 rebounds while Kwame Brown had 19 and six.

The Lakers held a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass and shot 16 more free throws - punishing the Suns in the paint.

However, Bryant was the difference in crunch time.

The top fourth-quarter scorer in the NBA, Bryant had only scored two points on one of 10 shooting combined in the final periods of the first two games of the series.

On Friday, the All-Star guard turned that all around.

After Brazilian international Leandro Barbosa buried a three-pointer to tie the game at 89-89 with two minutes left, the Lakers scored the final six points of the game - four by Bryant - including a remarkable fadeaway jumper over Raja Bell to make it 93-89 with 54 seconds left.

Jazz finally win against Rockets

In Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer scored 22 points and corralled 12 rebounds as the Utah Jazz held the Houston Rockets to a franchise-low play-off points total with an 81-67 triumph.

Matt Harpring poured in 13 points off the bench and Deron Williams added 11 and eight assists for Utah, who cut their deficit to 2-1 in their Western Conference first-round series.

"It's important for us to get a win, get some confidence, let them know we're still here and we're not going anywhere," Williams said.

The 67 points by the Rockets is three less than the 70 they scored in Game Five of a first-round series against the Jazz on May 3, 1998. Utah closed out that series in five games. The points total was one shy of Houston's all-time low.

Houston only had four players score, setting an NBA play-offs all-time low. Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady combined for 50 points, but the Jazz were the aggressors on defense for most of the night. Yao turned over the ball eight times as he and McGrady combined to shoot just 15 for 39.

"You have to attack before they attack you," said Utah's Croatian international guard Gordan Giricek.

"That's the way to play. Try to force them to fight for every shot, because by the end of the game, they're going to lose their legs."

Utah's Turkish center Mehmet Okur, who had the difficult assignment of defending Yao for most of the night, blocked four shots as he and the Jazz held him to six of 14 from the field.

"I'm going to find a way to score," Yao said. "They played me better tonight. I cannot push very hard on (Okur) because I know he will flop on the floor. He did one today, and for me, I just have to learn."

Pistons win Game Three over Magic

In Thursday's other match, the Detroit Pistons took a commanding 3-0 overall lead over the Orlando Magic after a 93-77 win in their first-round play-off series.

Tayshaun Prince scored 23 points and Chauncey Billups added 21 as the Pistons shared the ball well en route to victory.

Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton added 15 points apiece for the top-seeded Pistons, who have never really been threatened in the first three contests of the best-of-seven match-up. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit.

"We take one game at a time, now that we have three wins it's important for us to go out there and get the fourth," Prince said.

"When you're up 2-0 and you're going on the road, you don't want to talk about a sweep or anything like that. That's not how we do things."

Magic forward Grant Hill was left despondent after his side's latest defeat.

He said: "We came out with emotion. They weathered the storm. And once the emotion wears off, you've got to play.

"They've been in those types of games as a unit and we haven't. So, once the emotion wore off, you've got to play basketball. They outplayed us, simple as that."

Laura Stevenson
FIBA