USA – Kobe drops 40 on Magic as Lakers claim Game 1

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LOS ANGELES (NBA) - Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and the Los Angeles Lakers drew first blood in their NBA Finals showdown with the Orlando Magic on Thursday after rolling to a 100-75 win.

Bryant outshone his fellow Team USA Olympic gold-medal winner Dwight Howard of the Magic by scoring 40 points on 16 of 43 shooting from the floor and a perfect eight of eight showing at the free-throw line.

Last Year's NBA MVP also had eight assists and eight rebounds.

Spain's Gasol, who came under criticism for playing soft in last year's Finals defeat to Boston, finished with 16 points and eight rebounds against Orlando.

Howard, who led the Magic in their 4-2 upset of Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, only scored 12 points but did grab 15 boards.

Orlando's All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson, meanwhile, returned to the court for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery and played 23 minutes off the bench.

He was just three of nine from the field for six points. Nelson dished out four assists.

Orlando had the hot hand against Cleveland with their three-point shooting a big factor in that series.

Against LA, they hit just eight of 23 shots from long range.

"This is a resilient team," Bryant said of Orlando.

"They've been through a lot of adverse situations before. This is nothing new to them. We've got to forget about this and move on."

Lamar Odom had a strong game for LA as well. The power forward had 14 rebounds to go with his 11 points.

FIBA