Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant palms the Western Conference trophy after beating the San Antonio Spurs 100-92 in Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference basketball finals on Thursday night in Los Angeles. - AP

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers dispatched the defending champions and are headed to the NBA finals for the first time in four years.

Bryant scored 17 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter and the Lakers rallied from an early 17-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 100-92 on Thursday night and win the Western Conference finals in five games.

The Lakers are 12-3 in the play-offs, including 8-0 at Staples Center where they haven't lost in two months. They have won 14 straight home games and 21 of their last 24 post-season games at home.

They get a week off before opening the NBA finals next Thursday night at Boston or Detroit. The Celtics led the Eastern Conference finals 3-2 ahead of Game 6 last night.

THREE-POINTER

A basket by Lamar Odom gave the Lakers an 83-76 lead with 5:40 remaining, but a three-pointer by Brent Barry and a basket by Tony Parker drew the Spurs within two points. Manu Ginobili missed a three-pointer, which could have given San Antonio the lead before Bryant's jumper with 3:33 to play made it 85-81.

A foul shot by Duncan drew the Spurs within three, but two more baskets by Bryant made it 89-82 with 1:47 to play and the Spurs weren't closer than five points after that.

Odom added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Pau Gasol had 12 points, a career play-off-high 19 rebounds and five assists for the Lakers.

Parker scored 23 points and Tim Duncan had 19 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for the Spurs. Michael Finley scored 13 points, Barry and Kurt Thomas added 11 each and Ginobili was held to nine, shooting just 3-for-9.

The Lakers clinched their berth in the finals a year to the day after Bryant called the team's front office "a mess" during a radio interview. A day later, he demanded a trade, ultimately saying he preferred playing on Pluto rather than returning to the team he joined as an 18-year-old in 1996.

ANGERED SUPERSTAR

The situation calmed down until Lakers owner Jerry Buss told reporters during training camp in October he was listening to offers for Bryant, angering the superstar once again. But once the season began, Bryant bonded with his teammates, led the Lakers to the No. 1 seed in the rugged West and won his first Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

The Lakers will be playing in the finals for the 23rd time since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1961 and the 29th time overall. They have won 14 championships - nine in Los Angeles and five in Minneapolis.

The Lakers and the Celtics have met 10 times in the finals, with Boston winning the first eight match-ups and Los Angeles the last two - in 1985 and 1987. That's the last time the Celtics advanced to the championship round.

The Lakers and Pistons have met three times in the finals, most recently in 2004 when Detroit won in five games. Shaquille O'Neal, who teamed with Bryant to lead the Lakers to three straight championships starting in 2000, was traded a month later and the Lakers hadn't won a post-season series since until last month.