duncan228
01-13-2010, 01:05 AM
Spurs avoid gagging, and they can smile about that (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_avoid_gagging_and_they_can_smile_about_that. html)
Buck Harvey
Manu Ginobili had work to do 30 minutes after the game. Then, he sat at a table under a basket, with a small line formed to the side, signing autographs and posing for pictures.
It wasn't as demanding as, say, banging with Ron Artest. But there was another job requirement and, not long before, this was in doubt.
Ginobili needed to be able to smile.
The Lakers left San Antonio with a smile as well, although, technically, it was more like a smirk. They lost and didn't feel as if they had.
The Lakers were already without their second-best player, Pau Gasol and his still sore hamstring, and this is how the Clippers recently beat them.
If Gasol had been the only one missing, the Spurs still couldn't have read much into a win. But then came something that Phil Jackson has loved to throw around in this town. An asterisk.
Kobe Bryant's back tightened in the first quarter. Then, to use Jackson's words, he “locked up” in the third.
This might be who the Lakers are. Bryant's sore back joins finger, elbow and knee issues this season. He's played almost 1,000 regular-season games; these things happen.
But Bryant has also had back spasms before, and he will likely recover. Given this, the Spurs, having had to wait until January to see how their new roster matches up with the defending champs, still have no clue what they really have.
Keith Bogans started on Bryant and made a few plays, and George Hill stripped Bryant and sprinted for a dunk. But did this mean anything? Bryant went 7 for-10 and never shot after halftime.
Something eventually did mean something, and this came after the Spurs had taken a 22-point lead. This came after the Lakers' young guards felt free to shoot, and the crowd began to get nervous.
Andrew Bynum was a reason. He led the Lakers with 23 points, and, only 22, he looks sure of himself now.
He did before the game, too. With the usual locker-room noise surrounding him, Bynum sat and read “The 48 Laws of Power.” It's a book that has been compared to Sun-Tzu's “The Art of War.”
Maybe Bynum was locking into Law No. 17: “Keep Others in Suspended Terror.”
After all, with seven minutes left, Tim Duncan missed two free throws. Bynum followed with a skilled move — he faced up, surveyed the floor and threw in a short jumper over Duncan.
That pulled the Lakers to within seven points, and the Spurs were starting to look like a halftime promotion. Then, a fan won a jalapeño-eating contest only to have his stomach reject the prize. Talk about family entertainment.
The Spurs would have been as sick had they lost this game. After enduring something similar against Portland, how crushing would this have been?
Antonio McDyess' reaction began with a jalapeño-less exhale. “I hate to even think about it,” he said. “It would have been devastating to let this one slip away from us.”
Ginobili thinks losing to the Mavericks last week was devastating, too. “And they had all their players,” he said.
But he also saw this as McDyess did. The Spurs might not have proven anything when they beat these Lakers, but at least they didn't take a step back.
So Duncan missed his free throws, Bynum tossed in his jumper, and Ginobili took a pass from Richard Jefferson for a 3-pointer.
Other plays would have to be made after. But the 3-pointer was the one that quieted the nerves, and with that, the Spurs avoided something that would have stuck with them as they begin a road trip.
It also allowed them, just 30 minutes later, to smile.
********************
Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/SA_Spurs_105_LA_Lakers_85.html?c=n#1
Buck Harvey
Manu Ginobili had work to do 30 minutes after the game. Then, he sat at a table under a basket, with a small line formed to the side, signing autographs and posing for pictures.
It wasn't as demanding as, say, banging with Ron Artest. But there was another job requirement and, not long before, this was in doubt.
Ginobili needed to be able to smile.
The Lakers left San Antonio with a smile as well, although, technically, it was more like a smirk. They lost and didn't feel as if they had.
The Lakers were already without their second-best player, Pau Gasol and his still sore hamstring, and this is how the Clippers recently beat them.
If Gasol had been the only one missing, the Spurs still couldn't have read much into a win. But then came something that Phil Jackson has loved to throw around in this town. An asterisk.
Kobe Bryant's back tightened in the first quarter. Then, to use Jackson's words, he “locked up” in the third.
This might be who the Lakers are. Bryant's sore back joins finger, elbow and knee issues this season. He's played almost 1,000 regular-season games; these things happen.
But Bryant has also had back spasms before, and he will likely recover. Given this, the Spurs, having had to wait until January to see how their new roster matches up with the defending champs, still have no clue what they really have.
Keith Bogans started on Bryant and made a few plays, and George Hill stripped Bryant and sprinted for a dunk. But did this mean anything? Bryant went 7 for-10 and never shot after halftime.
Something eventually did mean something, and this came after the Spurs had taken a 22-point lead. This came after the Lakers' young guards felt free to shoot, and the crowd began to get nervous.
Andrew Bynum was a reason. He led the Lakers with 23 points, and, only 22, he looks sure of himself now.
He did before the game, too. With the usual locker-room noise surrounding him, Bynum sat and read “The 48 Laws of Power.” It's a book that has been compared to Sun-Tzu's “The Art of War.”
Maybe Bynum was locking into Law No. 17: “Keep Others in Suspended Terror.”
After all, with seven minutes left, Tim Duncan missed two free throws. Bynum followed with a skilled move — he faced up, surveyed the floor and threw in a short jumper over Duncan.
That pulled the Lakers to within seven points, and the Spurs were starting to look like a halftime promotion. Then, a fan won a jalapeño-eating contest only to have his stomach reject the prize. Talk about family entertainment.
The Spurs would have been as sick had they lost this game. After enduring something similar against Portland, how crushing would this have been?
Antonio McDyess' reaction began with a jalapeño-less exhale. “I hate to even think about it,” he said. “It would have been devastating to let this one slip away from us.”
Ginobili thinks losing to the Mavericks last week was devastating, too. “And they had all their players,” he said.
But he also saw this as McDyess did. The Spurs might not have proven anything when they beat these Lakers, but at least they didn't take a step back.
So Duncan missed his free throws, Bynum tossed in his jumper, and Ginobili took a pass from Richard Jefferson for a 3-pointer.
Other plays would have to be made after. But the 3-pointer was the one that quieted the nerves, and with that, the Spurs avoided something that would have stuck with them as they begin a road trip.
It also allowed them, just 30 minutes later, to smile.
********************
Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/SA_Spurs_105_LA_Lakers_85.html?c=n#1