Here at the Take No Prisoners Club, membership is strictly limited. Only a handful of champions get in. And not just champions, but those who scorched earth to do it. Total, complete, historic domination in the postseason. That's the ticket.

        Over there are the 1976 Cincinnati Reds. The only baseball team since the invention of divisions to go through the playoffs and World Series unbeaten.

        And there are the 1985 Chicago Bears. Combined score of two NFC playoff games and the Super Bowl: 91-10.

        Then there are the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers, 12-1 in the postseason. Beforehand, Sixer center Moses Malone had chirped of three series
sweeps — “Fo' fo' fo',” the battle cry. Slight editing was needed — “Fo' fi' fo” — with the loss of a game to Milwaukee in the conference finals.

        No other NBA team has come so close to the perfect spring. Until now.

        This august club so rarely opens its doors. But the Los Angeles Lakers, 19-0 since April 1, 11-0 in the playoffs, are waiting.

        You remember the Lakers. Tall guys in gold.
       

Rest, relaxation

               It has been awhile. When the NBA Finals begin Wednesday, the Lakers will have been at rest for 10 days since they devoured the San Antonio Spurs.

        Time for the beach, golf, the occasional practice. Time, perhaps, to lose a little of the steam off their rampage.

        We'll see. But it is something extraordinary they seek. When they turned the Spurs and their NBA-best record into a Tex-Mex lunch, it was as if the public collectively gasped, aware of how devastating this team truly could be.

        Kobe Bryant has grown up before our very eyes. And Shaquille O'Neal?

        “He's playing Wilt Chamberlain-type of basketball right now,” Milwaukee's Glenn Robinson said.

        But it is one thing to be champion. It is quite another to be invincible.

        So there can be a compelling NBA Finals without Michael Jordan. All you need is the whiff of history.

        Allen Iverson doesn't hurt, either.

        For the next two days, the survivors of the Eastern Conference will be trying to convince themselves they have a chance.

        “We'll give it a shot,” Philadelphia coach Larry Brown said of the Lakers. “They're the best team. But that's why you play the game. It's like David and Goliath, right?”
       

76ers might win (one)

               Actually, not on paper. These two teams finished the regular season with identical records. Split two season games, each winning at home.

        The Sixers have the NBA's MVP, coach of the year, sixth man of the year and defensive player of the year.

        That's a pretty beefy David.

        But the road is uphill. And now, might Brown want April 18 back? Last game of the regular season. He rested Dikembe Mutombo. Iverson was out hurt. The Sixers lost to lowly Chicago by six points.

        They win, they have home court advantage now. Wednesday's game is in the First Union Center, not Staples Center.

        Oh, well. The Sixers have wanted this spoiler's chance. Now they have it.

        The Finals beckon, and the Philadelphia 76ers are not just an opponent. They are the last obstacle to Laker membership in the TNPC.

        Lots of years, these Sixers could pull it off. But not this one. Lakers in five.

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