After giving the two-time defending champions their biggest postseason challenge in the past two seasons, after leading in the fourth quarter of all five games of the Western Conference series, the Spurs were forced to digest the simple fact that they had lost to a better team.

"I'm really excited about how far we came from the beginning of the year until now," said Tim Duncan, whose 34 points and 25 rebounds Tuesday night in Game 5 ranks among the greatest playoff performances in franchise history. "The Lakers just proved to be more than we could handle."

That they were able to handle Los Angeles for 31/2 quarters in each game made it all the more frustrating for the Spurs. They had a chance to win in the closing minutes of each game, but shot a combined 32.7 percent in the fourth quarter during the series.