The Los Angeles Lakers added yet another NBA championship to their trophy case in 2010, eventually defeated their arch-rival Boston Celtics in a seven-game series that will long be celebrated by the legion of fans.
Their playoff run began on April 18, 2010, when the Lakers played host to an Oklahoma City Thunder team was hoping to pull off an upset. With a young core featuring rising stars like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka, the eighth-seeded Thunder had the potential to give the Lakers, who finished first in the West, plenty of trouble.
To make matters worse in Game 1, Los Angeles had to weather a poor outing from Kobe Bryant, who was the focal point of the Lakers’ attack.