After destroying the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers proved that they were ready to make another title run in the Kobe Bryant era. Not only was Kobe on his game right out of the gate with a game-high 31 points in Game 1, but the team was firing on all cylinders with Andrew Bynum recording a triple-double and all five starters scoring in double digits.

In Game 2, the consensus was that the Nuggets would come out with some newfound energy in order to counter the Lakers dominant win just a few days earlier. Fortunately, the Nuggets did show some fire and a different attitude in this game on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough to slow down the five-time champion as Kobe went on another classic scoring rampage with a game-high 38 points to lead the Lakers to a 104-100 victory.

As if Kobe hadn’t prove over the course of the NBA regular season that he’d turned back the clock a bit by leading the league in scoring throughout the majority of the year, but now he appears to be back to form in the playoffs as well.

Along with Kobe putting up an impressive 38-point performance, up-and-coming center Andrew Bynum also put on a show offensively. Even though over the years Bynum hasn’t been a big factor on offense, this season has been the exception as he has come into his own as one of the league most dominant players inside the paint.

With 27 points, Bynum made a lot of Lakers fans remember the days of the Shaq-Kobe era in which both players were just too much to handle on both ends of the floor. Whether or not these two All-Stars can keep up this pace remains to be seen, but they are definitely striking fear in the hearts of the rest of the contenders in the Western Conference.

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