NBA round up
Published:Tuesday | April 28, 2009 | 1:11 PM
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers ran away from the Utah Jazz in the NBA last night, winning 107-96 to finish the opening-round series in five games.
Bryant scored 31 points and Lamar Odom had 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who earned several days of rest before meeting the winner of the Portland-Houston series.
Paul Millsap led Utah with 16 points while Andrei Kirilenko and Deron Williams had 14 apiece.
At New Orleans, Carmelo Anthony scored all of his 26 points in the first three quarters as Denver Nuggets thoroughly dismantled New Orleans Hornets 121-63 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The Nuggets can close out the series at home in Game 5 tomorrow night.
At Miami, Zaza Pachulia had 12 points and 18 rebounds as Atlanta Hawks defeated Miami Heat 81-71 to tie the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two games each.