Lakers win 103-94, take 3-2 series lead

May 28, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant scored 22 points, Lamar Odom had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Pau Gasol added 14 points and 10 rebounds in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 103-94 victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Wednesday night.

The Lakers lead the series 3-2 and Game 6 is Friday in Denver, where the Lakers lost Game 4 by 19 points.

Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points, hitting 12 of 13 free throws, and Kenyon Martin and Chauncey Billups added 12 points each for the Nuggets.

The teams were tied after the first, second and third quarters for just the fourth time in NBA playoff history.

The Lakers opened the fourth with an 11-0 run and never trailed again.

Before the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson was unrepentant about being fined $25,000 by the NBA for his criticism of the referees following Game 4.

“I didn’t think very good of it at all,” he said before Wednesday’s Game 5. “I thought I was very conciliatory, tried to soft-pedal my comments, but that’s the league for you. They’ll come back and hammer you.”

The Lakers organization was also fined $25,000 Tuesday, the day after the team’s 120-101 loss in Denver that evened the series.

“If it was a $10 fine it would still bother me,” Jackson said. “Parking tickets still bother me.”

Jackson was angry with the free throw discrepancy — Denver’s 49 attempts were 14 more than the Lakers — and accused the Nuggets’ Dahntay Jones of being unsportsmanlike for tripping Kobe Bryant.

Jones wasn’t called for a foul when the trip happened late in the third quarter, but on Tuesday, the NBA assessed Denver’s defensive specialist a flagrant-1 foul. Jones has three flagrant-foul points in the playoffs; one more and he’s suspended for a game.