LAKERS AND NUGGETS GET IT GOING
04/20/2009

The Los Angeles Lakers lived up to their status as the top Western Conference team Sunday as they cruised past Utah 113-100 in the first game of their playoff series.

Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, Trevor Ariza chipped in 21 and Pau Gasol scored 20 as the Lakers stayed in control throughout.

Western Conference second seeds Denver also opened their postseason campaign in emphatic style, with a 113-84 rout of New Orleans.

Los Angeles, who had secured the top seed in the West with two weeks to play in the regular season, led the Jazz by 22 points at halftime.

The Jazz twice crept within nine points in the second half, but the Lakers promptly responded.

"They kept knocking on the door and we just never let them in," Bryant said.

Bryant's total gave him 3,710 career postseason points, moving him past Magic Johnson and into ninth on the NBA's list.

Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (4,070) and Jerry West (4,457) have scored more points in the playoffs with the Lakers.

Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 27 points and Deron Williams added 16 points and a career playoff-high 17 assists.

However, both were plagued by foul trouble, with Boozer getting his third just before halftime when Williams already had two.

Utah also missed Mehmet Okur, who sat out with a mild right hamstring strain.

Game two in the best-of-seven series is on Tuesday, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson will be hoping to see even more from his team, who were outscored in the second half.

"It wasn't a coach's delight, that's for sure," he said of the victory

Utah coach Jerry Sloan, however, had even less to like.

"They kicked our butts off the floor," Sloan said. "We gave up 62 points in the first half, and it's virtually impossible to beat this team giving them an edge."

In Denver, the Nuggets made the most of their first home-court advantage in a playoff series in 21 years as they trounced the Hornets.

Chauncey Billups scored 36 points and made a career-best eight three-pointers for Denver, who notched the second-biggest blowout in the club's playoff history.

Billups sank four of his three-pointers in the third quarter, when the Nuggets took control of a once-close game.

Denver used a 21-0 scoring run bridging the third and fourth quarters to build a 95-69 cushion.

Billups, who won an NBA title and NBA finals Most Valuable Player honors with Detroit in 2004 - looked assured as he scored 16 points in the first quarter.

Soon his teammates settled down, and the Nuggets led 55-47 at halftime.

Denver then turned it into a rout by holding New Orleans without a point for almost seven minutes.

"I just got it going," said Billups, a Denver native who joined the Nuggets shortly after the start of the regular season. "It's just one of those special nights that you have sometimes."

"What Chauncey did wasn't a surprise. He's done it throughout his career. He's very good at making that shot and he made a lot of them tonight," the Hornets' James Posey said.

A big game from point guard Chris Paul wasn't enough for the Hornets. Paul finished with 21 points and 11 assists.

Hornets center Tyson Chandler, who had played just 20 minutes since he was sidelined in early March 2 with a left ankle injury, started and played 27 minutes.

He scored six points with five rebounds and committed five fouls.

Denver host game two on Wednesday, and Billups cautioned that the Nuggets couldn't expect another blowout.

"You'd like to think you can do it again, but you probably can't," he said.

Paul said the Hornets could only focus on trying to level the best-of-seven series.

"That's the best thing about tonight: we lost by 29 points tonight, but it's just 1-0," Paul said.