SAN ANTONIO VS. LOS ANGELES PHILADELPHIA VS. MILWAUKEE

Wednesday, May 30 Shaq, Kobe taking Lakers to new playoff heights Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- Unbeaten in the playoffs, one victory away from a sweep of the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals, the Los Angeles Lakers have become the team that coach Phil Jackson always thought they could be. Bryant O'Neal Even Spurs star Tim Duncan seemed to understand that the conclusion of the series is a mere formality. "We have to make this last game as tough as possible," he said. The only way Sunday's Game 4 can be the Spurs' "last" is if they lose, just as they have three consecutive times to a Lakers team on a roll that could make NBA history. Shaquille O'Neal has been as dominant in the middle as ever. Kobe Bryant has transformed from a talented but erratic player who sometimes shoots too much into a cool, controlled floor manager who has made everyone around him better. "The combination of the two of them is all that I envisioned they could be," Jackson said Saturday. The Lakers, winners of 18 in a row, 10 of them in the playoffs, didn't practice Saturday. They did some shooting, lifted weights and watched video of their 111-72 manhandling of the Spurs Friday night. It was the Lakers' most one-sided victory and Spurs' most one-sided loss in the playoffs since Los Angeles beat San Antonio 135-88 in 1986. O'Neal underwent treatment on the left ankle he twisted early in the fourth quarter Friday. He wore a flip-flop sandal instead of a shoe, and admitted the ankle was sore. "I'll be all right," he said. "It will probably be sore tomorrow, too, but once the adrenalin gets going, nothing will matter." Jackson said he didn't expect the soreness to limit O'Neal's time on the court. "We think he's going to be able to function fine," Jackson said. "I just don't think he's going to be as powerful or as dominant as he could be because he's going to lose a little bit of power." Jackson's praise for Bryant's maturation was effusive. "I've always held the bar up very high for Kobe," Jackson said. "He's not only reached that bar, but he's jumping over the top right now. I think it's the best that I've ever seen a player of mine play with an overall court game." Including Michael Jordan? "I never asked Michael to be a playmaker," Jackson said. "That's the greatest player I've ever had, but Kobe, to set up the offense, to advance the ball, to read the defense, to make other players happy, he's doing a great job of that." The Spurs worked out at Santa Monica High School and talked about how they just gave up when the Lakers overwhelmed them late in the third and early in the fourth quarters Friday night. "That's just not acceptable. That's not something we can do," coach Gregg Popovich said. "I've never seen this team do that, and I'm real anxious to see how they come out tomorrow." This is, after all, a San Antonio team that at 58-24 had the best record in the NBA. With a loss Sunday, the Spurs could be the first team with the best record in the league to be swept in the playoffs since Portland did it to the Lakers en route to the 1977 championship. But the other teams Los Angeles swept in the playoffs, Portland and Sacramento, won 50 and 55 games, respectively. That's what makes Los Angeles' postseason perfection so impressive. The Lakers admit they have allowed themselves to think a bit about becoming the first team to win a title without losing a single playoff game. "It's not important. What's important is winning a series," Jackson said, "and yet it is a distinction, and distinction is always something that teams like to rise to." A victory Sunday would tie the best start in an NBA playoffs, set in 1989, when the Lakers went 11-0. "It's fun to just be playing well and to be in a groove like we are now," Bryant said. "The game is so much more enjoyable when we're clicking on all cylinders like we are now." Fun for the Lakers, miserable for the Spurs, who seem bewildered by how things have fallen apart. "I played horribly last night," said Duncan, who was 3-for-14 from the field and scored nine points. "We haven't had a good 48-minute effort this entire series. We don't want to end our season on that." San Antonio might have put up a better fight if it could get some outside shots to fall. The Spurs shot 41 percent from 3-point range in the regular season and 42 percent in the first two rounds of the playoffs. In the conference finals, they made 10 of 43 3-pointers (23 percent). Terry Porter is 2-for-14, Antonio Daniels 3-for-12, Danny Ferry 3-for-8. Derek Anderson, Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson and Steve Kerr are a combined 0-for-7. "I've just missed them. They're open shots," Porter said. "To me it's disappointment because once again I'm close to a championships, but not able to get there. I've got to keep shooting. That's what's helped our team be successful all year long. And not just me, everybody else on the perimeter does, too." As bleak as things are, Popovich believes his players will not roll over Sunday as they did late in Game 3. "I know the kind of character they have," he said. "I think they're embarrassed that they gave in the way they did." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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