LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant was first. Normally he isn't the first one off the bench and onto the court for tipoff, but for Game 1 of these NBA Finals he couldn't wait. The rest of the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic were hanging on the sidelines, waiting for the signal from ABC that the commercial break was over and it was time to start. Bryant stood impatiently on the giant Larry O'Brien trophy logo on the middle of the Staples Center floor, anxious to get this thing going.

There are so many things at stake for him, all of which have been enumerated in that infinite media loop the past few days, so Kobe didn't bother to list them again.

"It's a bit of everything," he said. "It's a lot of motivation. A lot of motivation. I'm using it all right now."

He's so ornery that his daughters have renamed him "Grumpy" from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." A Lakers staffer encountered him in the workout room before the game, normally a chance to exchange a few pleasantries, but took one read of Bryant's mood and didn't say a word. Those who spend a lot of time with him say they haven't seen him this focused for such a long stretch. The only time he's cracked a smile in front of the media the past few days came Thursday night when, ironically, he was discussing how solemn he's been.

Weep not for the isolated family members or fearful work colleagues. Feel for the Orlando Magic instead, who paid the price for Bryant's battle against the giant names of the past in a 100-75 Lakers victory in the opening game.

Kobe's final line of 40 points, eight rebounds and eight assists looked like the numbers LeBron James posted against the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals, except Bryant has other teammates ready to answer the challenge, as well.

The Lakers are finally getting on a roll. They've won three consecutive games for the first time in these playoffs. It's their 96th game of the season, and rather than getting snippy with each other like kids in the back seat on a long drive, they seem to be learning about each other, as if they've been on a corporate retreat.

"As our camaraderie off the court picks up, we start to push each other more on the court," said Lamar Odom, who was active once again, racking up another double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Pau Gasol scored 16 on 7-of-12 shooting -- the only other L.A. player in double-digit scoring on a night when most of the other players' contributions consisted of defending the Magic down to 29.9 percent shooting, outrebounding them 55-41 and collapsing on Dwight Howard to limit him to only one field goal on six attempts.

Kobe did the scoring.

It's hard to frame Bryant's game in terms of his own standards, of Kobe being Kobe, because even in his illustrious career he had never before scored 40 points in an NBA Finals game.

Through three quarters of Game 1 on Thursday night, he had 36 points in 33 minutes of action, making him the first player to score more than 35 points in less than 35 minutes since Michael Jordan had 39 in 34 minutes the "Shrug Game" in the 1992 Finals.

This is about Jordan and Shaq and Magic Johnson much more than it's about Howard and Hedo Turkoglu and whether or not Jameer Nelson should be out there.

Kobe not only has to win this championship, he has to play well. He hasn't been at his best in the Finals, as indicated by the fact that none of his previous nine 40-point playoff games came in the big series. He was going to make sure his stamp was on this game.

The Lakers went to him early on the block against Courtney Lee. They put Lee and Howard in the pick-and-roll. They isolated Kobe on the wing.

He put up nine shots in the first quarter and made only three, one reason the Magic emerged with a 24-22 lead even though they weren't playing so great themselves.

But Bryant settled into the game and made six of his nine shots in the second quarter to put the Lakers up 10. He scored another 18 in the third quarter.

He wanted the rock so badly that when Derek Fisher retrieved a ball knocked into the backcourt, Kobe ran all the way back to him, stood there and called for it even after Fisher crossed half court, then finally realized Fisher needed for him to pass the line before he could give it to him. Once Kobe had the ball, he crossed over Mickael Pietrus and then accelerated to the hoop for a layup.

"He had the smell," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He found the angle of what he wanted to do out there on the floor and he carried that game into the second half, just carried the game his way."

At one point he spun on Pietrus, hit a hanging jumper in the lane, got fouled and made the gargoyle face he stole from Dirk Nowitzki.

"I just want it so bad," Bryant said. "That's all. I just want it really bad. You just put everything you have into the game and your emotions kind of flow out of you."

Speaking of flowing out, the Lakers will have to do what Bryant recommended rather graphically during last year's Finals and flush this game away.

This Magic team won't be playing their first Finals game next time. They looked like novices, became another new team on the wrong side of the ledger against Finals vets (the Lakers now have won 10 of the last 12 Finals opening games against newcomers). The Magic will make some 3s, Howard will get some dunks, and maybe coach Stan Van Gundy will settle on Nelson or Rafer Alston, who split minutes at the point almost evenly Thursday night.

It's on Orlando to make the adjustments, of course, but right now Bryant is looking like the Terminator, which means he won't be stopped until the end of the movie.

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J.A. Adande is an ESPN.com senior writer and the author of "The Best Los Angeles Sports Arguments." Click here to e-mail J.A.