Who’s Next?

Back to Phil Jackson’s washing machine, where wisdom is dispensed on gift-shop magnets. Back to Gandhi, or Zen, or a group reading from “Sacred Hoops,” followed by a ceremonial braiding of Rick Fox’s unshorn locks.

By the time the Eastern Conference finals identify a victor, the Lakers will have pushed their winning streak to two months, remarkably, from crude beginnings and flagging expectations. In the meantime, the Lakers await the NBA finals, which will begin on June 6 at Staples Center, 10 days after closing out the San Antonio Spurs.

Jackson’s time will be spent walking the line--in sandals, of course--between preparation and tedium, while his team awaits the Milwaukee Bucks or Philadelphia 76ers. The Lakers did not practice Monday, will return to their El Segundo training facility today, and then plan to take Wednesday off as well, not exactly the Riley Bullwhip Method that felled the only other team to stand 11-0 after three rounds.

They are a series from repeating their championship, a series from reaffirming the relationship that has arisen between their superstars, and only that series from the formation of what many assume could be the birth of the new Bling-Bling Dynasty.

“We’ve seen what we’re capable of doing,” Laker guard Derek Fisher said. “Now the challenge comes in building from this.”

Fisher’s last three-point shot had barely fallen, taken the last breath from the Spurs, when already he had moved off his 28 points, a career high.

“In the finals, my focus will probably shift more to defense,” he said. “Somebody else will probably have to pick up the scoring for us, because I’ll be held responsible for chasing guys like Allen Iverson around, or Sam Cassell. You have to put a lot of energy into those guys defensively, which takes away from your offense. I’ll do whatever I need to do to help our team win. That’s the mind-set I’m going to go into it with.”

The question to ponder: What do the Bucks or 76ers have that the Spurs, Sacramento Kings or Portland Trail Blazers didn’t?

Iverson? And then who?

Ray Allen? Then what?

It is the last bit of intrigue for the Lakers, 19-0 since April 1 and riding confidence unusual even for a defending champion. They were 0-2 in the regular season against the Bucks and 1-1 against the 76ers, but then everyone knows these Lakers are not those Lakers. These Lakers had 30 assists on 42 field goals Sunday. Those Lakers spent 48 minutes pulling at the basketball.

“It’s been gratifying to get back, first of all,” Laker forward Rick Fox said. “But then the fashion we’ve done it in, it’s impressive. I don’t think a lot of teams have ever done this. But it’s still unfinished. That’s a dangerous time right now to get fat on your success. I can honestly say we’ve never been that type of team.”

He smiled.

“This playoffs.”

He laughed again.

“Not in the beginning of the year. We were pretty fat to begin with.”

Asked for what he would watch as the Eastern Conference finals played out, Fox said, “Jumaine Jones is his name. Glenn Robinson. A little bit of Ray Allen. Tim Thomas. George Lynch broke his foot and he’s not going to be in that series. I can go out on a limb and say I don’t want any of Allen Iverson. I’ll take him with some help. But, all in all, knowing defense has gotten us to where we’re at right now, I’ll pay attention to what those guys are doing right now and what they like to do offensively, and knowing we have to shut that down. It’ll be tough to do against a team like Milwaukee or a team like Philly. I look forward to seeing who comes out of that.”

Shaquille O’Neal averaged 28 points and 15.5 rebounds against Philadelphia, but not against Dikembe Mutombo. The Lakers did not play the 76ers after that trading-deadline acquisition.

He averaged 31 points and 15 rebounds against the Bucks, who in both games started Joel Przybilla at center. Przybilla had 10 fouls and no points in 31 minutes in two games. By Sunday evening, O’Neal already had cranked up his Mutombo-can’t-stop-me mode.

“It doesn’t matter to me what team we play,” O’Neal said. “If we do play Philadelphia, I guarantee you they don’t play me one on one.”

The Lakers are scoring and defending, a playoff anomaly, and there was nothing David Robinson, Tim Duncan, or anyone else could do about it. The Lakers scored 104.6 points and gave up 89.2 in their first three series.

“If they play like that,” Robinson said, “there’s no way any Eastern team is going to beat them. There’s no chance.”

But if there was a chance . . .

“No. 1, a team would have to make its shots,” Robinson said. “No. 2, you’d really have to make them work hard for all of their baskets. They got too many easy baskets against us. If they take away the easy buckets, maybe they have a chance.”

In the meantime, the Bucks and 76ers will play, and the Lakers will watch and rest.

“Whoever comes out of the East, we’re just going to play,” Kobe Bryant said. “It doesn’t matter who comes out. We don’t care who comes out. We’re just going to play, give it our all and hopefully we’ll win.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Taking Measure

How Lakers match up with potential opponents in NBA Finals (with overall NBA rank)

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Cat. Lakers 76ers Bucks Record 56-26 (2) 56-26 (2) 52-30 (6) Points 100.6 (3) 94.7 (15) 100.7 (2) Pts. all. 97.2 (23) 90.4 (5) 96.9 (21) FG% .465 (3) .447 (12) .458 (7) Opp. FG% .438 (11) .429 (4) .439 (15) FT% .683 (29) .745 (18) .787 (3) 3-pt.% .344 (20) .326 (26) .379 (5)

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Regular-season statistics