Bryant, Lakers Blitz Orlando in Game 1

Lakers 100, Magic 75

LOS ANGELES, June 4 -- Kobe Bryant had spent the days leading up to the NBA Finals taking on a serious, almost ruthless persona. He fumed, frowned and flared as reporters asked him questions about his legacy, the importance of winning a title without Shaquille O'Neal and his sense of urgency given his seven-year title drought and ascending age. His answers were curt and borderline cantankerous -- probably because he knew he would answer those questions better with his performance against the Orlando Magic.

Bryant scored 40 points, with eight rebounds and eight assists as the Los Angeles Lakers ambushed an overwhelmed upstart, 100-75, to take a 1-0 lead in this best-of-seven series. Fueled by anger and embarrassment following their loss to the Boston Celtics last season, the Lakers spent this entire season focused on redemption -- to silence doubts about their physical and mental toughness while bringing a 15th championship to the franchise.

"He had the smell," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said of Bryant. "He's known to play big in big games. His energy in the game carried it."

The Lakers have won 16 consecutive playoff series after winning the first game, while Jackson-coached teams are an impeccable 43-0 when winning the first game of a series. The Lakers had lost the first game in their past two trips to the NBA Finals and eventually lost the series to Detroit and Boston. Bryant wanted to ensure that it wouldn't occur against the Magic, which was making just its second Finals appearance in franchise history.

He embodied that unyielding focus the day before, never smiling and mostly scowling during a 20-minute news conference. He waited almost 18 minutes to put his imprint on the game, and scored 30 points over the next 16 minutes, turning a one-point deficit into a 22-point lead. Bryant delivered a startling and dizzying display of difficult, contested jumpers and driving bank shots. He also was a willing passer, setting up teammates Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom with succinct passes. Bryant didn't score much in the fourth period, but he did come from behind to reject a shot by Magic reserve center Marcin Gortat.

Reserve guard Mickael Pietrus had 14 points and Hedo Turkoglu had 13 to lead the Magic, but the 7-foot combination of Gasol and center Andrew Bynum combined to hold Dwight Howard to just 12 points on 1-of-6 shooting. The Lakers were content to send Howard to the foul line, where he shot 10 for 16. Howard grabbed 15 rebounds.

The Magic shot just 29.9 percent as a team.

"Clearly after the first quarter, we were totally dominated on both ends of the floor," Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said about his team, which was outrebounded 55-41 and outscored 56-22 in the paint. "It's pretty hard to find a champion that didn't have their butts beat by almost 20 points. Those kind of things happen. They get one win for it; they don't get two. I know this, we're a lot better than we played."

Orlando added all-star point guard Jameer Nelson, who hadn't played since suffering a torn labrum against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 2. Nelson had surgery a few weeks later and was expected to need six to eight months of recovery time. The diminutive Nelson entered the game at the start of the second period and had an immediate influence, feeding Gortat for a dunk and Rashard Lewis for a three-pointer, hitting a short baseline jumper and then finding Courtney Lee for a layup that gave the Magic a 33-28 lead and forced the Lakers to call a timeout. Los Angeles responded with Luke Walton scoring the next four points, then Bryant decided to take over from there.

By benching veteran Anthony Johnson in favor of Nelson, Van Gundy took out the one player in his rotation with prior experience in the NBA Finals. But what the Magic lacked in championship pedigree, it made up for in confidence after defeating the Lakers twice in the regular season and surviving some difficult tests throughout the season -- including the extended absence of Nelson.

The Magic returned to the Finals 14 years after Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway were swept by Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets. The team finished with the worst record in the league just five seasons ago, but was rewarded with the opportunity to draft Howard No. 1 overall. In his fifth season at just 23, Howard led his unorthodox supporting cast, which features two 6-foot-10 three-point shooters, to an unlikely perch atop the Eastern Conference, knocking off the defending champion Celtics and 66-win Cleveland Cavaliers along the way.

The Magic was able to withstand a sublime individual talent in the conference finals, allowing league MVP LeBron James to put up ridiculous statistics while shutting down the rest of the Cavaliers. Orlando seemed content with letting Bryant operate, but the problem was Bryant had help. Gasol added 16 points and eight rebounds, while Odom had 11 points and 14 rebounds. Bynum added nine points and nine rebounds.