Lakers Show Heels to Spurs, Sweep Series

The Lakers said goodby to the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night in just about the same manner they said hello to them only last week.

This wasn’t much of a game--only another Laker blowout. But then, this wasn’t much of a series either, although it did serve its purpose. Now, maybe the Lakers can pick on somebody their own size.

At the moment, they are waiting for either Dallas or Utah. One will be the Laker opponent in the second playoff round that could start Sunday in the Forum if the Mavericks beat the Jazz Friday night at Salt Lake City.

The Lakers moved into the Western Conference semifinals by sweeping the Spurs out of the playoffs, which is not exactly shocking news. The score this time was 114-94 and completed the opening-series mismatch.

For Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the end couldn’t have come soon enough.

“I was glad we could get it over with,” the Laker center said. “Now we can get ready for the next series.”

And with that, Abdul-Jabbar officially said goodby to San Antonio.

“ Hasta siempre ,” he said, which means something like, “Forever.”

In reality, the Lakers said farewell to San Antonio a little earlier, like in the third quarter when the Lakers outscored the Spurs, 28-15, and inflated an eight-point halftime lead to 21.

Abdul-Jabbar led the Lakers with 25 points in 29 minutes. And although he finished with just three rebounds, it was of no consequence because the Lakers brutalized the Spurs on the backboards, just as they had the entire series. This time the rebounding margin was 53-33, with Kurt Rambis getting a game-high 14.

Then there was Magic Johnson, who had 14 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds for his first triple-double since March 16.

“We came for business,” Johnson said.

Business was certainly good for the Lakers. In three games, they outscored the Spurs by 95 points and outrebounded them by 69.

Since the average margin of victory for the Lakers was 31.7 points, this is not likely to be remembered as a close playoff series. But the Lakers believe it might count for something.

“It’s a momentum-builder for us,” Michael Cooper said. “Our rebounding really came around, and if we can carry on from here, then this has been a really important series for us. Even so, this is just another step up the ladder for us.”

The Lakers won the series by margins of 47, 28 and 20 points, which indicates a rather large disparity between themselves and the Spurs, who finished their season by losing 24 of their final 28 games in singularly unimpressive style.

“We weren’t good enough to play them,” Spur Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “They totally controlled us the entire series.”

Wes Matthews was the only Spur who showed any spark at all. He scored 30 points Wednesday night, but with the Lakers concentrating on stopping San Antonio’s front line, Matthews was not a factor.

Neither was the crowd. Only 7,918 showed up in HemisFair Arena, making it the smallest playoff crowd in team history. Johnson wasn’t really surprised.

“When we beat them like we did the first two games, the crowd probably thought we’d do it again, so they wouldn’t come out,” he said.

They were right, too. There wasn’t a whole lot wrong with the Lakers throughout the series. Even though Abdul-Jabbar once again got into early foul trouble, Petur Gudmundsson was hurriedly pressed into service and the Laker lead grew from five points to 12 early in the second quarter.

Then when Byron Scott also experienced foul trouble, Cooper picked him up. Add 17 points by Maurice Lucas coming off the bench and it was clear to see that the Lakers had more questions than the Spurs had answers.

Fitzsimmons considered that for a minute or so.

“Nobody said life is fair,” he said. “If life was fair, I would be coaching the Lakers and Pat Riley would be coaching the Spurs.”

Riley sounded understandably happy to have been sitting on the right bench.

“We didn’t have any breakdowns,” he said. “We accomplished the first goal and now we can move onto the next level. Now, we’re outta here.”

The Lakers made their move right after halftime. Jeff Lamp’s three-pointer with five seconds left got the Spurs to within 56-48 at halftime, but Scott dropped a pair of jumpers and assisted Abdul-Jabbar on a layup to begin the third quarter.

By the time Cooper got loose for a breakaway jumper, the Lakers held a 76-59 lead. There was still 4 minutes 33 seconds left in the third quarter, but the game was already out of sight.

If there is any facet of this series for the Lakers to feel best about, it might be their domination of the inside game, which was judged to be the strength of the Spurs.

“No one on their front line hurt us in any of the games,” Rambis said.

San Antonio’s Big Three line of Artis Gilmore, Steve Johnson and David Greenwood was effectively contained, and so was small forward Mike Mitchell. With the Laker defense concentrating on those four players, Matthews became the sole offensive force for the Spurs.

“We were underdogs from the start, but we should have been more competitive,” Matthews said. “Some of us weren’t. But all the Lakers were. They were on a mission.”

Laker Notes For the first time in his playoff career, James Worthy did not score in double figures. Worthy played 38 minutes, but he had only seven points. . . . The Lakers have now won 11 consecutive conference playoff series. . . . Magic Johnson’s 48 assists is an NBA record for a three-game playoff series. He broke his own record of 42, a mark he set last season against Phoenix. . . . The Lakers outrebounded San Antonio, 148-79, and the Spurs’ total was the lowest in NBA history for a three-game series. . . . Maurice Lucas said the Spurs were hurt in the playoffs by finishing the regular season poorly. “They weren’t confident coming in,” he said. “You just can’t turn it around like that. And we were on a roll. If we were in Las Vegas, we would have broken the bank.” . . . Johnson and Alvin Robertson, two of the unlikeliest guys to start shoving each other, did it anyway in the fourth quarter, but they both backed off quickly. “I don’t play like that and he doesn’t either,” Johnson said. . . . Robertson had difficulties with his jump shot and shot only 8 for 29 in the series.