Lakers beat Utah Jazz
Published:Tuesday | May 11, 2010 | 1:18 PM
Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, and Pau Gasol added 33 points and 14 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers completed a four-game sweep of the Utah Jazz with a 111-96 victory last night to advance 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.
The Lakers are off until hosting the Phoenix Suns next Monday in Game 1 of the West finals.
At Atlanta, Vince Carter scored 22 points to lead another dominating performance by Orlando Magic, who finished off their second straight playoff sweep.
Orlando beat Atlanta Hawks 98-84 for a 4-0 series win.
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.
They will face either Boston or Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals.