LOS ANGELES, May 27 -- The overwhelming 1-2 punch of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant sent the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers into NBA Finals Sunday as they completed a crushing sweep of the San Antonio Spurs, 111-82.
The matchup of the last two NBA champions was expected to present professional basketball at its best, but it turned out to be as one-sided a series as has been played in this year's playoffs.
In the third and fourth games of the Western Conference finals, Los Angeles turned in the first and third largest margins of post-season victories this season.
Los Angeles won the four games by a combined 89 points as the Lakers ran their winning streak to 19 games. They won the last two games on their home floor by 39 and 29 points, reducing San Antonio's "Twin Towers" of Tim Duncan and David Robinson to rubble.
"We had San Antonio on their heels," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who has won 19 straight playoff series. "They are a very good basketball club. To win a series like this is a remarkable feat."
"In the playoffs, it's all about getting hot at the right time," O'Neal said.
Los Angeles completed its third consecutive sweep and is 11-0 in the playoffs, a feat never accomplished by Michael Jordan and the dynastic Chicago Bulls of the 1990s. The last team to do it was the Lakers themselves in 1989.
"It's becoming rather scary," Lakers forward Rick Fox said. "We're beating teams that you'd expect to be formidable opponents, but it's not looking that way."
The Spurs had the NBA's best record during the season and were thought to have the best chance of dethroning the Lakers. They put up very little fight and became the first team with the top mark to be swept out of the postseason since the 1977 Lakers.
"You've got to think back to when 'Showtime' was here or the the Celtics teams when they were on rolls," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "These guys are really doing a hell of a job."
The Lakers will have at least seven days off before facing the Philadelphia 76ers or Milwaukee Bucks, who are battling in the Eastern Conference. Los Angeles will be a decided favorite against either.
"I don't know what Milwaukee and Philly could do different," Duncan said.
"If they play anywhere close to that, the Eastern team can't win a game from them," Robinson said.
If the Lakers sweep the Finals, they would become the first team to go through the playoffs without losing. The 1983 Philadelphia 76ers went 12-1 en route to the title.
"We do a very good job of staying in the moment and taking it game to game and that's what we're going to continue to do," Bryant said. "We just want to win a championship, no matter how we get there, no matter what it takes."
O'Neal had 26 points and 10 rebounds, making 11 of 19 shots in just 31 minutes. Bryant had 24 points and 11 assists, hitting 10 of 19 shots in 34 minutes.
And for the first time in the postseason, the dynamic duo had to take a back seat to someone else. Guard Derek Fisher continued his emergence as a third scoring option with a career-high 28 points.
Fisher made six of seven three-pointers, demoralizing the Spurs, who spent most of the series double-teaming O'Neal and chasing Bryant all over the court. Fisher was 15 of 20 from beyond the arc in the series, setting a record for a four-game set.
"Obviously, I'm playing at a level I haven't shown before," said Fisher, who is averaging 15.1 points per game in the playoffs. "But I think I'm capable of being a consistent player."
The Lakers scored the first six points and raced to a 33-23 lead as O'Neal and Fisher each scored eight points in the first quarter. The highlight was an alley-oop pass from Fisher that Bryant soared to grab with his left hand, controlled with his right and dunked home with two hands.
Fox's fast-break dunk capped an 11-0 surge that gave Los Angeles a 56-30 lead with 5:19 left in the second quarter. San Antonio trailed at halftime, 64-41, and got no closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
The Lakers avenged a sweep at the hands of the Spurs in the 1999 conference semifinals.
"I think the players played with a sense of remembering the last time they had played against the Spurs in a series two years ago," Jackson said.
Fox scored 12 points for the Lakers, who held an astounding 54-33 rebounding advantage and shot 49 percent.
Duncan had 15 points and seven rebounds and Robinson added 12 and 11. The Spurs shot 40 percent and wereswept in a playoff series for the first time since the 1992 first round against Phoenix.
