May 2 - Staples Center, Los Angeles. Kobe had 36 points but he and his Lakers got too confused at the end and the Mavericks won the first game of the series 96-94 led by Dirk Nowitzki's 28 points and 14 rebounds.

The Lakers though the would win it when Kobe made a jumper to make it 94-81 with 59 seconds left, those were his points 21 and 22 on the second half, but neither he or his teammates were going to score again. The Mavs got within one with 40 seconds to go before Kobe committed a costly turnover. Then Pau Gasol who had had a good game with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists incomprehensibly fouled Nowitzki on an inbound pass and the German forward made both free throws to put Dallas ahead 95-94. Kobe was fouled and fell to the ground in the next inbound attempt but no foul was called. Kobe could have also won it at the very end with a three-pointer at the buzzer but he missed and the Lakers are now in the same position they were in the New Orleans series, down by one, with all the pressure on them.

L.A. won the first 53-44, getting 4 easy points in the final 0.7 seconds after Jason Terry fouled Lamar Odom who was trying a very improbable half-court shot and Dirk Nowitzki got a technical foul. Then they opened the third quarter strong, but after the score got to 60-44 Dallas went into a 20-6 run and the only reason they couldn't catch the Lakers was Kobe Bryant who at some point scored 12 consecutive points for L.A. on his 81st 30-point playoff game. He trails only Michael Jordan with 109 in NBA history.