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The Lakers overcame an awful start and rode Kobe Bryantto a100-92 victoryto eliminatedefending champion San Antonio, 4-1,in the Western Conference finals on Thursday at raucous Staples Center. The Lakers will play either Boston or Detroit in the NBA Finals on Thursday, four years after their last Finals appearance - a five-game loss to the Pistons. [...]

Deron’s good at everything, so you try and minimize the damage. [The Jazz are] most effective when he’s passing the ball to cutters, and passing the ball to spot-up shooters like Okur, so what you want to do is get Deron going for his own offense. He’s still effective, but that’s usually the least bad [...]