Clean sweeps for Lakers and Magic in semis
May 11, 2010 14:36:55 UK
Lakers 111, Jazz 96
Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, Pau Gasol added 33 points and 14 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers completed a four-game sweep of the Utah Jazz with a 111-96 victory on Monday night, advancing to the Western Conference finals for the third straight year.
The Lakers quickly ended the Jazz's hopes of extending the series by pulling ahead by 22 in the second quarter. Utah got within five in the third, but couldn't sustain the comeback against the defending NBA champions, who made very few mistakes and didn't give the Jazz many chances to rally.
Los Angeles had just six turnovers and made 29-of-36 foul shots while knocking Utah out of the playoffs for the third straight year. The Lakers are off until hosting the Phoenix Suns next Monday in Game 1 of the West finals.
Deron Williams led Utah with 21 points and nine assists.
Magic 98, Hawks 84
Vince Carter scored 22 points to lead another dominating performance by Orlando, which finished off its second straight playoff sweep. Orlando won the four games by a total of 101 points, the largest margin ever in a four-game sweep of an NBA playoff series.
The Magic, who lost to the Lakers in last year's NBA finals, have won 14 in a row - the last eight in the playoffs - and 28 of 31 games. They will face either Boston or Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals. Hawks star Joe Johnson finished off a miserable series by scoring only 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
He was booed by the home crowd at the start of the game and got the same treatment when he went to the bench with 3:51 to play. The fans were still miffed that he said didn't care if they "showed up or not" after they heckled the team in a 30-point loss on Saturday.
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