The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win the National Basketball Association (NBA) title for the 15^th time. This is LA Lakers’ first win since 2002. The score read 99-86. Lakers have an unbeatable lead of 4-1 in the best-of-seven series. This is Coach Phil Jackson’s record tenth title and Kobe Bryant’s fourth.
 

Kobe, 30, scored 30 points, and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the first time. Lakers had won three consecutive titles in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Kobe’s then teammate Shaquille O’Neal was the MVP at that time. Lakers were almost unbeatable during O’Neal-Kobe reign. Kobe averaged 32.4 points during the finals.

Kobe had brushed off the criticism that Lakers could not hope to win the title without the giant O’Neal. He said the criticism was silly and he was not going to argue about it. In this fifth game, Lakers overcame a four-point deficit to score 16 straight points in the second quarter to have a 52-40 lead.

Lakers’ 10-point lead at halftime was reduced to 58-53. But, Lamar Odom scored two three-pointers to give Lakers 71-55 lead just before the end of third quarter. The Lakers had reached the finals last year. But, they had lost to Boston Celtics in 6 games. Pau Gasol, Lakers Forward, said that previous year’s experience made them tougher and helped them grow as a team.  He further said that it was hard to describe the win in sentences and the feeling was special.