Basketball: Bryant, O'Neal star in big win

Kobe Bryant scored 36 points and Shaquille O'Neal added 35 and 17 rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past San Antonio 111-72 in the National Basketball Association semifinals yesterday.

Lakers, the defending champion, won their 18th consecutive game, and set a club record 10th in a row in the playoffs, to seize a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference final.

Los Angeles inflicted the worst defeat of the season on the Spurs and can complete the sweep and return to the NBA finals with a victory in game four in Los Angeles today.

"All we have to do is concentrate and play with intensity and effort," Bryant said.

Despite the return of San Antonio guard Derek Anderson from a shoulder operation, Bryant led all scorers and added nine points and eight assists to spark the Lakers to a rout. Anderson scored only two points.

O'Neal twisted his left ankle and sat out the final 4 1/2 minutes, but said the injury would not sideline him for game four.

"I'll be fine," O'Neal said. "This is a big win for us. We're five victories away from our goal, part two."

Tim Duncan, of San Antonio struggled with 3-of-14 shooting for only nine points and 13 rebounds, with the Lakers dominating rebounds in the second half to seal the Spurs' fate.

San Antonio, led by David Robinson's 24 points, shot only 3-for-17 in the fourth quarter and just 32 per cent for the game.

O'Neal continued the playoff tradition of heaping praise upon Bryant, the same man he feuded with earlier in the season over scoring.

"I can do [play well] now that I'm playing with the best player in the world, the galaxy, the whole nine planets," O'Neal said of Bryant.

O'Neal said he was upset for a lot of reasons, but would not elaborate. However, one motivating factor in his performance was likely the death on Wednesday of his cousin, Lawrence Webb, a firefighter who was killed in the line of duty.

"He was a real hero in my life," O'Neal said.

Whatever the spark, O'Neal sought the ball and his team-mates were more than happy to provide him the scoring chances.

"He wanted it," Bryant said."We knew he wanted to play."

* The Milwaukee Bucks took a 2-1 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference finals yesterday with an 80-74 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, who could not make enough shots without injured star Allen Iverson.

Iverson, who was averaging nearly 32 points a game in the playoffs, stayed at the team hotel to rest and treat a sore hip.

Without the league's most valuable player, the 76ers made only 25 of 70 shots for a 36 per cent success rate.

Sam Cassell scored 24 points to lead the Bucks in the lowest-scoring game of the 2001 post-season.

Ray Allen added 20 and Glenn Robinson 18.

- AGENCIES