NBA PLAYOFFS : Spurs Finally Deep-Six Lakers : Western Conference: Robinson, Rodman help San Antonio stave off home team and win series, 100-88.

The Lakers were finally silenced Thursday night, weeks after most would have figured but at least 48 minutes before they planned. Del Harris stood before them for a postgame speech, felt the quiet in the locker room and found he also was not prepared for this moment.

“I wasn’t expecting to do a eulogy tonight,” their coach said later.

The Lakers weren’t expecting to hear one, either. But this was the end, summer having come with a 100-88 loss to San Antonio before 17,505 at the Forum that gave the Spurs the series, 4-2, and put them in the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1983.

No Game 7 at the Alamodome. No final comeback.

“A bad feeling,” Vlade Divac said. “But I think we had a great season. We showed everybody how good we could be. We showed this can be a championship team.”

That the expectations of almost everyone within the organization, and certainly everyone around the league, had been exceeded provided some comfort afterward. Especially that they did not go quietly at the end, clawing back from a 13-point deficit late in the third quarter to get within two with 7:21 remaining.

Harris said he expected to win the game. Not wanting to give away anything, he even had the team form a circle around Nick Van Exel as the second-year point guard lay on the ground while trainer Gary Vitti worked on him during a timeout for continuing back problems, all the better to ensure that the Spurs would not realize there was an injury to exploit.

But that’s where the Lakers stalled, not long after the scoreboard showed a replay of Van Exel’s stunning three-pointer in overtime of Game 5, the biggest shot for this suddenly rejuvenated franchise since Magic Johnson’s junior skyhook against Boston in the ’87 finals. The Spurs, who got 31 points and 15 rebounds from David Robinson, responded with an 8-2 run.

That did it for the Lakers. They did not go down without a fight, but go down they did.

“There’s going to be some disappointment,” said Van Exel, who made only two of 13 shots and missed all four three-point tries. “But we’ve got to look at it that we did a good job. We took one of the best teams in the league--maybe the best team--to six games. We weren’t even supposed to be in the second round.”

The Spurs, on the other hand, were supposed to be in the next round. Now, after some stumbles, they are, facing the winner of the Houston-Phoenix series, possibly Monday.

They quickly headed in that direction, taking a seven-point advantage in the first quarter. Dennis Rodman, back in the starting lineup, had seven rebounds and six points in the period, en route to 16 and 12, respectively.

The lead reached double digits, 30-20, early in the second quarter. The Lakers responded from there, pulling within three at halftime, 47-44, as both teams struggled to find their shooting touch, a recurring theme in the series.

When Cedric Ceballos made consecutive three-pointers early in the third quarter, the Lakers were down, 53-52. When he converted a pair of free throws shortly after, with 7:11 to play, it was 57-57.

At 62-61, the Lakers had their first lead of the game. It held up for about a minute, to 64-63, at which time San Antonio went on a 10-0 run to regain control. In all, the Spurs had a 16-4 rally the final 3:57 of the period, good for a 79-68 cushion heading into the fourth.

Good enough to beat the Lakers. Once and for all.

Laker Notes

Eddie Jones, who went from being the No. 10 pick in the draft to the Lakers’ starting lineup, was named first-team all-rookie Thursday in a ballot of coaches. He had the fourth-most votes in the lineup chosen regardless of position, behind only the top three choices in the draft: Jason Kidd, Grant Hill and Glenn Robinson. Brian Grant completed the first team. Kidd was the only unanimous selection for the first team, meaning one coach thought there were five better rookies than Hill and Robinson, and another completely left Robinson off his 10-player ballot. The second team, which had six players because of a tie for the final spot, consisted of Juwan Howard, Eric Montross, Wesley Person, Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall and Sharone Wright. Clipper Lamond Murray missed the second team by one vote. . . . Elden Campbell had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers. . . . Nick Van Exel played 47 minutes, giving him 464 of a possible 495 minutes in the 10 playoff games. He committed a total of 22 turnovers. . . . The Spurs outrebounded the Lakers, 57-38.