The Los Angeles Lakers clinched the Western Conference championship on Monday, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 96-90 to win the series by four games to two.
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant led the scoring for Los Angeles but were restricted by early fouls and it was Kareem Rush who made the big shots down the stretch.
Rush, a back-up guard who has averaged only three points per game in the playoffs, scored 18 points, all from beyond the three-point arc. O'Neal ended with 25 points and Bryant 20.
After a rollercoaster season the Lakers, favorites to win their fourth league championship in five years, will now meet Indiana Pacers or Detroit Pistons in the NBA finals.
Forward Latrell Sprewell led Minnesota with 27 points while Kevin Garnett had 22.
Garnett ran into early trouble like O'Neal and Bryant, and fouled out of the game with 19 seconds remaining. Minnesota guard Sam Cassell was sidelined by back spasms and did not play.
The Timberwolves, who had trailed by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, rallied to make the game competitive, helped by 14 fouls called against the Lakers in the second session.
"It was a weird game, we had a lot of calls that didn't go our way and it really took us out of our flow," Bryant told reporters.
DOUBLE TEAMED
O'Neal was called for his fourth foul with a minute left to play in the first half. With their dominant center in danger of fouling out and often double teamed, the Lakers began to feed the ball to the role players Minnesota was leaving unguarded.
That set the stage for Rush, who responded with what Lakers coach Phil Jackson called "the game of his career".
"We know a lot about him as a shooter of that ilk but I'm sure not a lot of people know that about him," Jackson said. "We have faith that he can make those shots."
Rush, a second-year pro who has played behind Derek Fisher and Gary Payton this season, said he was confident once his shots began to fall.
He hit six of his seven three-point attempts, missing the last of them when the game had already been decided.
"I just stay ready," Rush said. "I hit my first one and I knew it was going to be a good night and they just kept going in for me."
Lakers forward Slava Medvedenko also stepped up with a big game from the bench, adding eight points to double his playoff average, including a fourth-quarter jumpshot that Garnett had almost dared him to make by backing off on defense.
"I said at the start of this season that we have a lot of weapons and on any given night anyone can be a so-called star," O'Neal said.
The Detroit Pistons hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers. Game Six is on Tuesday.
The first game of the NBA finals is on Sunday.
