Lakers serve notice

At home, Bryant said his daughters believe he has acted lately like Grumpy from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Coming up shy in his last two Finals appearances made Bryant that way.

But with Bryant scoring a game-high 40 points, the Lakers hammered the Magic in Game 1 last night, a 100-75 statement victory at the Staples Center. The previous largest margin of defeat for Orlando this postseason was 18 against Boston (112-94) in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Game 2 is here Sunday night.

"I just want it so bad," said Bryant. "I want it really bad. You just put all you have into the game."

Bryant did just that, making 16 of 34 shots from the field and all eight of his free throw attempts, with eight rebounds and eight assists. Los Angeles forward Pau Gasol added 16 points and eight rebounds, as the Lakers outrebounded the Magic, 55-41.

"The exceptional part of it tonight was Kobe's drive," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who is 43-0 in series when his team wins Game 1. "I think he didn't shoot great, 16 for 34, but his energy in the game carried it."

"I thought he was great, clearly," said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy of Bryant.

Meanwhile, no Orlando player scored more than Mickael Pietrus's 14 points, as the Eastern Conference champions shot 29.9 percent (23 of 77). Orlando's frontcourt of Dwight Howard (1 of 6), Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu combined for 33 points on 6-of-27 shooting. Orlando guard Jameer Nelson, in his first action since Feb. 2 after shoul der surgery, had 6 points and four assists in 23 minutes.

"There was nothing I liked, OK," Van Gundy said. "Other than our ball movement the first 18 minutes, really, what was there to like?"

Said Howard, "Tonight was just an off night as a team."

Orlando actually led, 24-22, at the end of the first quarter. Checking in at the beginning of the second, Nelson showed little rustiness, as his jumper and three assists gave Orlando a 33-28 lead. But Bryant sparked the Lakers by scoring 12 points and dishing out four assists in the second as Los Angeles led, 53-43, at halftime.

The Magic got within 9 at 59-50, on a Courtney Lee 3-pointer with 8:20 left in the third quarter. But Los Angeles responded with a 16-2 run finalized by a Bryant 3-pointer. The Lakers finished the third ahead, 82-58.

"We never had a shooting night this bad," Howard said. "We have to play a lot harder than we did tonight."

Bryant scored 18 points in the third quarter, as the Lakers outscored the magic, 29-15.

"Offensively he was amazing, defensively as well," Lakers forward Lamar Odom said of Bryant. "When he gets it going he's one of the best basketball players of all time."

With 1:50 remaining, Bryant finally came out of the game. The Magic scored fewer than 20 points in each of the last three quarters.

"Clearly after the first quarter we were totally dominated at both ends of the floor and on the boards," Van Gundy said. "And so I think the biggest thing for us going forward in this series is, and it's incumbent on me to find this, we need to find a starting point, something we can hang our hat on."

"For what it's worth, I told [my players] it doesn't matter whether we win by 60 or 6 in this game," Jackson said. "It's just one win. We've got to go out and try to establish that again on our home court on Sunday."

Said Bryant, "It's just one game. No big deal."

Marc J. Spears can be reached at mspears@globe.com