Lakers have goods to win it all

LOS ANGELES -- A 17-point deficit right out of the box?

No problem, apparently, for the Los Angeles Lakers who surely are flexing their muscles these days after erasing another big San Antonio lead Thursday night, and capturing the Western Conference championship.

They will go into the NBA Finals next week against Boston or Detroit with everything they will need to become champions.

Confidence. Energy. A superstar leading the way.

"We have a great, great hill to climb to be able to finish in the Finals and win," said Coach Phil Jackson after the Lakers overwhelmed and eliminated the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in five games Thursday night, 100-92.

At this point, though, it looks entirely doable.

There were some close games in this series. The Spurs even won one game. But who was in control was never in doubt -- at least after the big-time rally from 20 points down in Game 1.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich praised his team's effort but conceded the truth.

"(We) just played a team that was better," Popovich said. "That's why the Lakers won."

It was as obvious as Kobe Bryant's intensity. Their leader scored 39 points in the clincher, pouring it on down the stretch with 17 fourth-quarter points.

Making sure.

Not by design, we're assuming, the Lakers spotted San Antonio a double-digit lead for most of the first half before turning up the defensive heat.

It may not play as a formula for success -- dropping behind -- but there's nothing wrong with a come-from-behind test of character to get ready for the real fun.

After disposing of the Spurs in every imaginable fashion, you have to believe they can win it all.

They do.

"This is the Lakers," said Bryant. "They're used to winning the Western Conference championship. I don't think we'll go out on the street or see a riot. We play for one thing only, and that's championships. This is big, big stuff for us. Now the real season starts."

As soon as the Lakers realized they were actually going to have to work for this one, and made the Spurs sweat for their shots, the West had new kings.

It didn't take five games to realize which team was superior on both ends of the court.

When the Lakers began to chip away Thursday, victory looked inevitable, even if it took all the way to the final 70 seconds of the third quarter before the Lakers finally grabbed a lead.

There was no desperation in their game. Bryant said they weren't even concerned about an extended series.

"I don't think anybody was really terrified to go back to San Antonio," he said. "We just wanted to win the game -- approach it with a sense of urgency. I don't think anybody in that locker room felt nervous, or anything like that if we had lost the game."

The old champs were stubborn, but still just Laker fodder. Tougher than Denver. Easier than Utah.

It was Tim Duncan-on-five, his teammates mostly bailing out to their All-Star forward. He was San Antonio's only consistent threat in this series.

As for the Spurs' alleged spark plug, he was Manu Gi-no-show again. Ginobili was an all-world non-factor, unless you count the negatives. The 3-of-9 shooting. The three turnovers.

Without him at the top of his game, the Spurs were defending nothing.

It's the Lakers' turn now.

If their youth and playoff inexperience were a question mark a month ago, they are no more. Three series have made them tougher -- and older.

The kids off the bench have a role, bringing an unbridled energy into the game, and it suits their youth just fine.

It was the second unit, led by Jordan Farmar this time that began bringing the Lakers back from the early deficit.

"They came in with some enthusiasm and picked up the tempo," Jackson said. "It carried over to the other players when they came back at the end of the second period."

And clearly none of them lack for confidence.

Farmar said the team has been eyeing this moment from early in the season.

"We believed it from the start," the second-year Laker said. "The way we were playing before the trade (for Pau Gasol). We were in first place in a tough Western Conference. Andrew Bynum was playing some of the best basketball I've ever seen.

"We were all playing well. Andrew went down, they made some big moves and we just kept going from there."

And going still.

(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)