No surrender on this night. No matter, the Los Angeles Lakers dispatched the tempestuous Denver Nuggets anyway. Kobe Bryant scored 14 of his 31 points over the final 5 1/2 minutes Monday night, leading the Lakers to a 107-101 victory over the Nuggets and a sweep of their first-round series.
Pau Gasol added 21 points in the Lakers' first sweep of a playoff series since whitewashing New Jersey in the 2002 NBA finals, the last time they won it all. The Nuggets became the first 50-win team to ever be swept in the first round of the playoffs. The Lakers will meet the winner of the Utah-Houston series, which the Jazz lead 3-1, in the Western Conference semifinals. (More basketball stories.)