/ AP

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, left, fights to keep possession against Magic guard Rafer Alston during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA finals.

Michael Ventre

Instead, they just got Kobe.

Yes, that is indeed a simplistic assessment of what transpired Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA finals. After all, the rest of the Lakers joined forces with him to submit a virtuoso performance in whipping the Orlando Magic 100-75 with Game 2 set for Sunday. It wasn't all just Kobe slicing and dicing his way to 40 points — a career high for a finals game — with eight rebounds and eight assists.

It just seemed that way. It might be something the Magic and its supporters will have to get used to, and learn to develop coping skills for, during the remainder of this best-of-seven series. This was billed as the best of the West — an inconsistent Lakers team — against the finest in the East — a young club of destiny riding a wave of confidence. What it might turn out to be is a one-sided snorefest, because of Kobe Bryant's determination to win his fourth title.

Perhaps the reason Game 1 appeared so Kobe-centric, and the reason the Magic have reason to worry the rest of the way, is because more than ever before, he is transmitting his closer brain waves to his Lakers teammates. Since Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against Denver, the Lakers have been playing championship-level basketball. It can be directly traced to his grim expressions after games and the bearing of fangs on the court. Rather than fade, Bryant's obsession appears to be growing exponentially with each remaining playoff game, which doesn't bode well for Orlando.

"I just want it so bad, that's all," Bryant said after the game. "I just want it really bad. You just put everything you have into the game and your emotions kind of flow out of you."

It also appeared as if all semblance of offensive basketball expertise flowed out of the Magic and down a sewer. This was a team that strafed the Cleveland Cavaliers from the outside while the infantry had its way in the paint in winning the Eastern Conference finals. But on Thursday against Los Angeles, the Magic shot a tick under 30 percent from the field, including 21 percent in the third quarter, when the Lakers opened a 10-point halftime lead to a 24-point edge after three quarters.

"We've never had a shooting night this bad," said Magic center Dwight Howard, who finished with just 12 points — he was just 1-for-6 from the field — along with 15 rebounds.

"Our effort tonight, it just wasn't there," he said. "Nobody's effort was there. We didn't go for any loose balls. We just wasn't fighting. That's not Magic basketball."

If the Magic also had a bad case of stage fright, it wasn't something their coach, Stan Van Gundy, was willing to concede.

"It's the simple, cliché psychology stuff that you write when a team doesn't play well," Van Gundy said. "I have no idea on that. That's not in my thinking at all. My thought process is, 'How are we going to defend them better? What are we going to do offensively to score?' We need to play better."

Kobe had help in preventing the Magic from playing better. Orlando came into this game boasting the highly desirable basketball dynamic of having a mighty and gifted big man in the post and skilled perimeter shooters. They still have that inside-outside relationship, and it could reappear on Sunday for Game 2, which would then turn the series back into something less lopsided.

Remember, if the Magic win Sunday, it will have gained the desired split, and then it returns to Florida for three straight, with a chance to win it there.

Yet following Bryant's lead, the Lakers did a killer job of rotating to the 3-point line and then dropping down when the ball went inside, then hustling back out again. Although they weren't perfect — the Magic still got off 23 3-pointers attempts, making eight for a decent 35 percent — the Lakers were pesky enough to keep Orlando out of any kind of offensive rhythm, especially in the second half.

"I think we made it hard for them to get to the spots where they like to operate," said Lakers guard Derek Fisher. "They had lots of good open looks at the basket, but at the same time the shots that we know they are making just happened to not go in tonight.

"They won't be shooting 29 percent probably again the rest of the series."

But if Bryant plays the remainder of the finals like he did Thursday, it won't matter.

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Jim Mone / AP

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