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Lakers Win 15th N.B.A. Title, Beating Orlando
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 14, 2009
The Los Angeles Lakers won the N.B.A. Championship by beating the Orlando Magic 99-86 Sunday night, capturing their 15th championship.
The Lakers surged into the lead with a 16-0 run to open a 12-point lead, thrilling a large contingent of their fans wearing purple and gold inside Amway Arena.
Orlando, which shot a finals-record 62.5 percent from the field in its Game 3 victory, started on pace for another night like that. The Magic made eight of their first 11 shots, running off eight straight points to open a 15-6 lead.
The last basket came after Rashard Lewis batted the ball out of Bryant's hand, leading to a layup by Alston. Bryant lingered at the other end of the court in obvious pain and during the timeout trainer Gary Vitti looked at his right hand, which has had two fingers dislocated in the last two seasons.
Bryant returned play resumed and hit his next two shots, including a 3-pointer, and the Lakers chipped away at the lead as Orlando's shots stopped falling. The Magic missed 10 of their final 14 shots as their lead was cut to 28-26 after one quarter.
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Originally Posted by LarryNJ
