LOS ANGELES, June 4 -- His team seeminglyheaded for a humiliating exit from the playoffs, Shaquille O'Neal started a 15-point, fourth quarter run Sunday night and then dominated the game's final three minutes to put the Los Angeles Lakers into the NBA Finals with an 89-84 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Lakers' win, coming in the seventh game of the Western Conference finals, set up a championship showdown with the Indiana Pacers and Coach Larry Bird, a member of the Hall of Fame because of his spectacular playing career. Los Angeles will host the first game of that series Wednesday night.
Portland owned a 15-point lead in the early moments of the fourth quarter and appeared ready to finish off a remarkable comeback from a 3-1 deficit and beat the Lakers for the third straight time on their home court.
But the Trail Blazers missed 13 consecutive shots as the Lakers ran off 15 straight points, the first two coming from the NBA's Most Valuable Player who had been virtually eliminated from the game through the first three quarters.
Brian Shaw scored the last points in the run with a three-pointer that tied the game at 75-75, after which Rasheed Wallace finally ended the Portland drought by hitting a short jumper with 2:55 to play that allowed the Trail Blazers to regain the lead.
But O'Neal then made two free throws to tie it and on the Lakers' next possession put his team ahead for the first time since the early moments of the contest with a layup. Wallace tied the game moments later on a goaltending call against O'Neal with 1:49 to play, but the Trail Blazers could not score another point until Wallace made a three-pointer with 34 seconds to play that cut the Lakers' lead to three.
The culminating moment in the Los Angeles comeback came with 41 seconds to play when Kobe Bryant lobbed a pass above the rim and O'Neal stuffed it home to put the Lakers in front by six and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
O'Neal's dominance during the deciding portion of the game even carried over to the officials, who chose not to blow a whistle with 30 seconds to play when the Los Angeles center obviously bumped Portland's Steve Smith as Smith headed to the basket.
A foul in that situation would have sent Smith to the line with a chance to bring the Trail Blazers within two points. Instead, the missed shot was tracked down by Los Angeles and Portland star Scottie Pippen was forced to foul, his sixth of the game.
"That was a very interesting game," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "I have never seen one quite like that before or had a team that I thought ran out of gas as much as they had in the third quarter.
"We have a little bit of experience as individuals but not as a team and we have to build on what we did today to be better."
"We lost this game in one quarter," said Blazers forward Scottie Pippen, who played for Jackson during the championship dynasty of the Chicago Bulls. "That fourth quarter made cowards of us. It's tough to swallow right now."
O'Neal was held to a relatively modest 18 points, but hit five of nine from the field and eight of 12 from the line. Bryant paced the Lakers with 25 points. Wallace led Portland with 30.
Portland built a 19-9 lead in the first seven minutes of the game and the Lakers had consistent problems battling back with O'Neal being bottled up and no one else stepping up to make the key shots.
Los Angeles still trailed by 10 midway through the second period, but then clawed their way to within 42-39 at halftime and finally took a one-point lead on two occasions in the midst of the third period -- both times on baskets by Glen Rice.
Portland, however, then went on 18-2 run that seemingly put an end to the Lakers' season. Smith scored 10 points during the surge, which gave Portland a 68-53 advantage.
Shaw, however, provided a hint of things to come with four seconds remaining in the third quarter when he banked home a three-point shot that cut the Los Angeles deficit to 71-58.
"We were thinking keep going, keep applying the pressure, continue to keep going down on the offensive end and keep getting good shots and hopefully this team will fall in the end," said forward Glen Rice. "And they did."
Portland scored just 13 points in the fourth period, coming up short in its attempt to hand the Lakers their first three-game losing streak since April of 1999.
"This is a rivalry that's gonna last a long time, probably the rest of my career," O'Neal said.
Los Angeles won its fourth straight Game 7 since a loss to Boston in the 1984 NBA Finals.