LAST YEAR'S SWEEP NOT SWEPT UNDER RUG LAKERS FORGED IDENTITY VS. SPURS.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - It was a sweep, a vengeful smack that balanced the scales. And so much more.

It was the Lakers, shunning their past and shattering expectations.

``A big part of our development,'' Derek Fisher said.

The Lakers, tugging at history.

``A turning point,'' Kobe Bryant said.

The Lakers, snuffing out their last bogeyman, crushing the only foe considered their equal.

``One of the biggest upsets'' in history, coach Phil Jackson said.

A year ago, the Lakers swept the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals, and everything changed.

Fisher became an elite 3-point shooter. Bryant, a transcendent playoff figure. Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant's biggest fan. The Spurs, a footnote.

And the series? One of the most memorable, most significant chapters in the Lakers' back-to-back championship runs.

Now, it's also the most compelling subtext in the Lakers' three-peat quest. As the Lakers and Spurs open a best-of-seven conference semifinal series today at Staples Center, the recent past looms large.

The series ultimately could be decided by the state of David Robinson's bad back, the effectiveness of Tim Duncan, the one-two punch of O'Neal and Bryant. But ever-present will be last year's sweep.

It lifted the Lakers, who ultimately claimed a second championship. It deflated the Spurs, who ultimately jettisoned three starters, leaving only Duncan and Robinson as holdovers.

``We got beat to death by these guys last year,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ``I'm sure in the back of our heads, that's there. And that we were hoping at some point to be able to play the Lakers. That's just the natural thing. So hopefully, we'll do a better job.''

The Lakers weren't perfect in their demolition of the Spurs - the team that swept L.A. two years earlier and won the 1999 title - but they were close. They won the four games by an average of 22.2 points, the greatest margin ever in a conference finals.

They did it without home-court advantage, and against a team that - despite the Lakers' 7-0 playoff record at the time - was favored by many to take the series.

But then Bryant scored 45 points in Game 1, and O'Neal called him ``the greatest player in the league,'' ending forever their poisonous feud. Game 2 saw Jackson ejected, the Spurs pulling ahead by 14, and the Lakers winning by seven anyway. The Lakers went back to L.A. up 2-0 and the Spurs cashed out, losing the final two games by a combined 68 points.

``It was big,'' Fisher said. ``That first game, being able to go in there and win and then coming back and figuring out a way to win Game 2 after being down double digits, that was a big part of our development.''

Along the way, Fisher - the gutty defender with the foot problems - became John Paxson, hitting an NBA-record 15 3-pointers on 20 attempts in the series.

If the Lakers' seven-game defeat of Portland in the 2000 conference finals stands as their breakthrough moment of this era, their all-out domination of the Spurs stands as their best series. Their most dominant series of a historic 15-1 postseason.

``I think last year that was the turning point in the playoffs for us,'' Bryant said. ``It's amazing in the playoffs what a series can do for a team's confidence and what it can do to an opposition's confidence, too. ...

``The end of the series, I think we gained more confidence in ourselves being able to sweep a team like San Antonio. A lot of people had picked San Antonio to beat us in that series and if not, for the series to go six or seven games.''

The Spurs had the league's best regular-season record last year, and in Robinson and Duncan, the best combination available to attack O'Neal. The series was billed as the real NBA Finals, featuring the league's two best teams.

It was supposed to be closely contested, a memorable battle between the league's only two champions of the post-Chicago Bulls era. Instead, it was the most lopsided conference finals ever.

``That was perhaps one of the biggest upsets in a series since the Nets beat the (defending-champion) 76ers back in (1984), when they were one of the most fearsome teams in the NBA,'' Jackson said, referring to New Jersey's first-round stunner. ``There haven't been many upsets as dramatic as that one. But more than anything else, it was a confidence builder for this team.''

The impact still is being felt by the Spurs, who imported Tony Parker, traded for Steve Smith and signed Bruce Bowen in an attempt to gain ground. Only six members of last year's team remain, but the wounds run deep.

``You've got to be thinking that this is a tough place to play after what happened last year,'' said Lakers forward Samaki Walker, who played for San Antonio last season. ``We came up here and they really buried us. The crowd got behind them. I think (the Spurs) understand what type of situation they're in right now.''