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Lakers down two games to zip

The Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O'Neal falls to the floor as San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan drives to the basket during the NBA Western Conference Semi-Finals Playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs at the SBC Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday. The Spurs defeated the Lakers 114-95. PHOTO: AFP

Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers are going home in an unfamiliar position -- thoroughly embarrassed and down 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs.

"We're in a dangerous spot," O'Neal said Wednesday night after the Lakers' 114-95 loss in Game 2. ``But this team can bounce back. We now have to take care of business in Los Angeles.''

The three-time defending champions hadn't lost the first two games in any of their 13 postseason series since San Antonio swept them in 1999.

Los Angeles has defeated San Antonio in the playoffs the past two seasons, sweeping them in 2001 and winning 4-1 last year.

San Antonio knows the series, which resume Friday night in Los Angeles, is far from over despite the Game 2 trouncing, in which the Spurs led by as many as 33 points in the second half.

"We have to go [into Game 3] with the same energy," Spurs forward Tim Duncan said. "We did our part keeping home court. We have to focus on the first game and really put the pressure on their shoulders."

Also Wednesday night, New Jersey beat Boston 104-95 to take a 2-0 series lead. The other conference semifinals resume Thursday night, with Philadelphia at Detroit, and Sacramento at Dallas. Detroit and Sacramento lead 1-0.

Bruce Bowen, whose main mission in the series is to defend Kobe Bryant, led the Spurs in scoring with a career playoff-high 27 points. He was 7-of-8 from 3-point range and 10-for-12 overall.

At the other end, Bowen harassed Bryant into a subpar shooting performance.

"It's the best game I've had as an NBA player," said Bowen, who averaged 5.6 points in his previous seven playoff games this year. "My main focus was defense tonight -- Kobe, being who he is, was going to come out aggressive tonight and try to take over the game."

The game became lopsided early and stayed that way, with Bryant and O'Neal watching most of the fourth quarter from the bench. O'Neal and Bryant each scored 27 points, but Bryant was 9-of-24 from the field.

O'Neal had four fouls, three of them offensive, which prompted Lakers coach Phil Jackson to criticize the referees, as he did after San Antonio's narrow victory in Game 1.

"What he's doing he's done his whole career," Jackson said of O'Neal's physical play on offense. "They're taking away his game."

San Antonio built a 13-point lead in the first period and kept extending it. The Spurs led by 17 at the half, went ahead by 33 in the third quarter and led by 27 entering the fourth.

"Everyone really got into the continuity of the game," said San Antonio's David Robinson. "We did a great job tonight of penetrating and finding seams."

Manu Ginobili finished with 17 points, Tony Parker had 16 and Speedy Claxton 15.

Nets 104, Celtics 95

Richard Jefferson scored 25 points and made the Nets' first basket of a fourth quarter rally Wednesday that gave New Jersey a 104-95 win over the Boston Celtics and a 2-0 lead in their second-round series.

Jason Kidd added 23 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, while Kenyon Martin had 14 points and 10 rebounds to again dominated his matchup with Boston's Antoine Walker. Walker had just seven points on 3-for-15 shooting.

Paul Pierce, who turned his ankle late in the game, led the Celtics with 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. But he also had six of Boston's 21 turnovers, and Walker had five. Tony Delk added 19 points.

The best-of-seven series will move to Boston for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Monday.

This game was similar to Game 3 of last year's conference finals between the teams. New Jersey took a 21-point lead into the final period of that contest yet lost the game. The Nets took a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter, only to have Boston pull to 82-80 when Pierce hit two free throws with 7:49 to play.

Jefferson hit two free throws and Martin one to push the lead to five points with 6:33 to play.

A basket inside by Eric Williams cut the gap to three points, and it seemed the Celtics would get a chance to make it closer. With the shot clock winding down and the Nets' bench screaming "butter" -- the watchword to shoot in a hurry -- Jefferson elevated on the right wing and nailed a jumper to give New Jersey an 87-82 lead with 5:26 left.

A missed shot by Walker and a 3-pointer by Kittles gave the Nets all the breathing room they would need, and Jefferson added some highlight film material with a reverse slam.

Top rookies honored

No. 1 overall draft choice Yao Ming and rookie of the year Amare Stoudemire were unanimous choices for the NBA All-Rookie team announced Wednesday.

Houston center Yao and Phoenix forward Stoudemire, who entered the league straight from high school, both received the maximum 56 points in balloting by the league's head coaches.

Miami's Caron Butler (55 points), Orlando's Drew Gooden (45) and Denver's Brazilian forward Nene Hilario (40) also made the team.

Argentinian guard Emanuel Ginobili and Croatian guard Gordon Giricek were picked for the All-Rookie second team.

Yao led rookies in blocks (1.79), was second in rebounding (8.2) and tied Stoudemire in scoring average.

Stoudemire led NBA rookies in rebounding (8.8) and tied for second in scoring (13.5) and blocked shots (1.06). He helped the Suns make the playoffs, where they were eliminated in the first round by top-seeded San Antonio.

The All-Rookie second team: San Antonio's Ginobili, Orlando's Giricek, Cleveland's Carlos Boozer, Chicago's Jay Williams and Boston's JR Bremer.
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