(Best E Casino) - The top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers welcome No. 4 Utah tonight to the Staples Center for Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

On Sunday, NBA MVP Kobe Bryant scored 38 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out seven assists as the Lakers earned a 109-98 win over the Jazz at home in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.

Pau Gasol finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, while Lamar Odom contributed 16 points and nine rebounds and Sasha Vujacic netted 15 points off the bench in the victory.

Mehmet Okur had 21 points and 19 rebounds for Utah, which shot 37.9 percent from the floor, including 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from three-point range. Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 14 boards before fouling out, while Deron Williams added 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Bryant was officially named NBA MVP by the league on Tuesday. A 10-time All- Star, Bryant played in all 82 regular-season games and averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He shot 45.9 percent from the floor, including 36.1 percent from three-point range, and made 84 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe. The 6-6 Bryant is expected to receive the MVP trophy from commissioner David Stern prior to tonight's contest.

Game 3 of this series is scheduled for Friday at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Lakers have won three of their last four Game 2s in the playoffs, and are 3-0 at home in this year's postseason.

Utah haw won two of its last three Game 2s in the postseason. The Jazz are 2-2 on the road in this year's playoffs.

This is the fourth time the Lakers and Jazz have met in the playoffs. Los Angeles defeated the Jazz in seven games in the 1988 West semis. Utah knocked out the Lakers in five, 4-1, in the 1997 semifinals and swept LA in the 1998 conference finals.

The Lakers, who swept the eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets, 4-0, in round one, have been victorious in four of their last five trips to the semifinals. They fell in six games, 4-2, to the Spurs in the 2003 Western Conference semis.

In the regular season, Los Angeles won its first Pacific Division crown since the 2003-04 campaign, when Shaquille O'Neal was trying to lead the Lakers to their fourth title in five years.

Utah, which won its second straight Northwest Division crown during the regular season, has made it to the West semis for the second straight year. Last year, the Jazz knocked off the Golden State Warriors, 4-1, in this round and fell to the San Antonio Spurs, 4-1, in the conference finals. The Jazz are 6-6 all-time in the semifinals.

The Jazz defeated Tracy McGrady and the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets, 4-2, for the second straight year in the opening round of the playoffs.

During the regular season, the Lakers won three of the four meetings between the clubs. LA captured a pair of games at the Staples Center and defeated the Jazz, 106-95, on March 20 at EnergySolutions Arena.