Real Lakers show up, rout Rockets in Game 7

LOS ANGELES (AP) After dominating a Game 7 few people thought would need to be played, the Los Angeles Lakers poked a little fun at their maddening inconsistency against the Houston Rockets.

Cleared for takeoff: Los Angeles' Pau Gasol puts up a shot against Houston on Sunday. AP PHOTO

Asked what the Lakers learned from the Western Conference semifinals, which the Lakers clinched with an 89-70 win Sunday, Kobe Bryant cracked: "That we're bipolar."

Now that all is well again in La-La Land, Bryant and his teammate can begin focusing on what they need to do against the Denver Nuggets in the conference finals. Game 1 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

"Our effort could be much better, you know, in Game 4 and Game 6," Bryant said. "But still, Houston played extremely well. In a series, it's about making adjustments. That's what we were able to. We made our adjustments. We came out and were ready to go. You can't take anything away from this Houston team. But we definitely could have played a lot harder."

In Game 7, Pau Gasol dominated on both ends of the court, scoring 21 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. The Lakers looked like the conference's top-seeded team, not the maddeningly inconsistent one that was pushed to the limit by the undermanned, smaller Rockets.

The Lakers had been so up and down in this series that coach Phil Jackson said before Game 5 that they had a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde in them. That was the night the Lakers raced to a 40-point win at home, only to follow it up two nights later with a 15-point loss, the second straight game they were blind-sided in Houston.

It turns out that home-court advantage and a smothering defense were all it took to jump-start the Lakers, who made sure they didn't choke this one away against the No. 5 seed.

The Lakers dominated the paint on both ends, forcing the Rockets into turnovers and bad shots. They owned the backboards, taking a 55-33 advantage, and blocked 10 shots.