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SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- Phil Jackson exited, but the dominance of the Los Angeles Lakers returned. Perhaps inspired by Jackson's third-quarter ejection, the Lakers received 14 of their 22 fourth-quarter points from Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal and posted an 88-81 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game Two of the Western Conference finals. Los Angeles recorded its 17th consecutive win to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. Only the 1969 Lakers and 1994 Houston Rockets have captured a best-of-seven series after dropping the first two games. The loss overshadowed a superb effort by San Antonio's Tim Duncan, who scored a career playoff-high 40 points and played all 48 minutes. Duncan made 15-of-26 shots and also grabbed 15 rebounds. "We stayed solid against overwhelming odds," Jackson said. "It's an incredible task to come in and win one, much less two." Jackson was whistled for his second technical with just under four minutes left in the third quarter and San Antonio's Antonio Daniels converted the free throw to extend the Spurs' lead to 61-54. "At first, I think it took the life out of us for a second," Bryant said of the ejection. "But he had prepared us so well that we were able to execute without him. We just stuck to the game plan that he had prepared for us so well." The Lakers used a 10-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Robert Horry, to take a 64-63 lead with 1:14 to go. The Spurs had a 67-66 edge heading into the final period. Duncan's basket with 6:21 left gave the Spurs their final lead at 76-75. They made only two baskets the rest of the way. O'Neal tied it with a free throw and Los Angeles opened an 80-76 lead with 4:54 left on a basket by Rick Fox and two free throws by Bryant. After David Robinson scored to pull the Spurs within a bucket, Bryant drove and found a wide-open O'Neal for a layup. After an empty possession by San Antonio, Bryant connected on a long 3-pointer for an 85-78 cushion with 71 seconds left. "That was a last-second thing," Bryant said of his pass to O'Neal. "I was surprised to see him standing down there. As I went up, I saw David Robinson was looking for the ball. I thought 'Man, don't you know that's Shaquille O'Neal down there.' I was definitely surprised to see him open close to the basket." Bryant finished with 28 points and seven rebounds and O'Neal collected 19 and 14. The Lakers made 8-of-18 from beyond the arc, including a 4-of-4 effort by Derek Fisher. "It is all about winning," O'Neal said. "I was told not to worry about scoring. I was ordered to play great defense against two great big men. In the past when I have had a poor offensive performance, I come out the next game with a vengeance and that is what I plan to do in the next game." Duncan had just three baskets in the second half as the Lakers' double-teaming forced San Antonio to hit from outside. The Spurs did not comply, going 4-of-16 from beyond the arc, with starters Danny Ferry and Terry Porter combined to make just 1-of-9. "Sometimes it's a simple game," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "You have to put the ball in the hole. They did everything we asked them to do, we just couldn't get a shot to fall. The Lakers had something to do with it and we had something to do with it." Daniels scored a career playoff-high 24 points, converting all 12 free throws, but no other Spur was able to reach double figures. Robinson was limited to 27 minutes due to foul trouble and had seven points and nine rebounds. The Spurs committed 14 turnovers in comparison to seven for Los Angeles and had a franchise playoff-low seven baskets in the second half. Fisher made 6-of-9 shots for 16 points while Fox added 11. The Lakers were outrebounded by a 42-41 margin. San Antonio had a 22-21 lead after one quarter and opened the second with a 15-2 spurt, including eight points from Duncan, for a 37-23 lead. It was the Lakers' largest deficit of the postseason. Los Angeles' frustration was magnified by O'Neal, who missed 7-of-9 shots in the first half and was whistled for a technical midway through the second quarter after exchanging words with Spurs forward Malik Rose. "Malik did an incredible job on Shaq tonight," Duncan said. "He really made it hard for him to get those easy baskets. But we did miss having David on the floor. Having another 7-footer gives us a different look." Jackson picked up his first technical from referee Hugh Evans with 8:44 to go in the third quarter after arguing a foul call on Horace Grant. He was tossed almost five minutes later by Bob Delaney. "I went out on the court," Jackson said. "They have a slot near the free-throw line. He (Delaney) wanted me to move off the slot. The first technical was ridiculous. Neither technical was a credible call for a technical." The Lakers have captured 10 straight postseason games, including Game Six of the 2000 NBA Finals. They are on their best postseason winning streak since recording 11 straight victories during the 1989 playoffs. Game Three is Friday night in Los Angeles. "I think L.A. outplayed us down the stretch tonight," Duncan said. "We're not packing it in and going home. We're going to L.A. to win." |
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