duncan228
05-20-2008, 11:28 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA052108.1E.BKNspurs.lakers.adv.12fba002.html
Spurs find Lakers in their way again
By Jeff McDonald
LOS ANGELES — Tony Parker turned 26 last week and immediately began sounding like a man in a mid-life crisis.
“I feel old,” the Spurs’ youngest player said.
As Parker and the Spurs touched down here late Tuesday morning, fresh off a grueling seven-game victory over New Orleans in the Western Conference semifinals, they were bestowed with a gift guaranteed to make them all feel young again.
In a blast from the not-so-distant past, the Spurs and Lakers meet tonight in Game 1 of the conference finals at Staples Center, rekindling memories of what not long ago was the NBA’s pre-eminent rivalry.
From 1999 to 2004, the Spurs and Lakers stood as twin pillars in the Western Conference.
In what once seemed like an annual rite of late spring, the two teams met five times in the playoffs over that span, combining for five NBA titles.
Welcome to the 2008 Western Conference finals, which, if you squint your eyes just right, could be the 2001 Western Conference finals. It is a series tailor-made for those with an abiding nostalgia for Russell Crowe movies, the final episode of “Friends” and the last days of grunge music.
“It makes me feel 32 again,” said Robert Horry, the 37-year-old Spurs reserve who played for both teams in his championship-studded career.
The rivalry fell dormant when Shaquille O’Neal left Los Angeles after the 2004 season. The Lakers dynasty crumbled, and the Spurs moved on to other foils.
But thanks to the Lakers’ sudden resurgence in the West — they finished 57-25 this season to capture the conference’s top seed — the past is back en vogue.
“It always used to come down to these two teams,” said Spurs swingman Ime Udoka, who broke into the league on a 10-day contract with the Lakers in 2004. “It seemed like whoever won was the favorite to win it all.”
In the last postseason entanglement between the two teams, the 2004 conference semifinals, Derek Fisher all but bounced the Spurs with his notorious Game 5 game-winner with 0.4 of a second to go. It took about 0.4 of a second more for the Lakers’ empire to come unraveled after that.
Los Angeles lost to Detroit in the 2004 NBA Finals, O’Neal was traded to Miami, and the Lakers went wandering in a wasteland of mediocrity, struggling to rebuild around their remaining supernova, the mercurial Kobe Bryant.
Meanwhile, the Spurs remained at or near the league’s pinnacle, winning two titles since the Lakers’ last one. The core of this year’s Spurs team — Tim Duncan, Parker, Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen — hasn’t changed since Fisher’s 2004 miracle.
“Not a lot has changed,” said Horry, a veteran of seven seasons with the Lakers from 1997 to 2003. “Good thing about that is, I know a little bit of their offense and what they’re trying to do. It will be fun.”
Yet much else has changed for the Lakers since the rivalry’s heyday. Coach Phil Jackson left and returned. So did Fisher. O’Neal left and never came back, eventually landing in Phoenix where, in another nod to yesteryear, the Spurs were responsible for his playoff ouster this season.
After years of a power struggle with O’Neal, Bryant is the team’s unquestioned centerpiece, turning in his first MVP season after averaging a conference-leading 28.3 points per game. That number has risen to 33.3 per game in the playoffs.
“As we all know, Kobe is the best player on the planet,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Not because he is the MVP, but because he just is.”
It wasn’t until Feb. 1 of this year, however, that the Lakers finally appeared prepared to regain their place as a thorn in the Spurs’ side.
That’s when general manager Mitch Kupchak pulled off the deal of the decade, acquiring All-Star Pau Gasol from Memphis for a collection of spare parts.
Gasol, with a preternatural passing ability that belies his 7-foot frame, was practically made for Jackson’s triangle offense. With Gasol teamed with the otherworldly Bryant, the Lakers won the most competitive Western Conference race in recent memory.
Now, the Spurs once again find the Lakers in their championship path. It’s enough to make even an old point guard feel young.
“It feels like my first or second year in the league,” Parker said. “It never gets old.”
Spurs find Lakers in their way again
By Jeff McDonald
LOS ANGELES — Tony Parker turned 26 last week and immediately began sounding like a man in a mid-life crisis.
“I feel old,” the Spurs’ youngest player said.
As Parker and the Spurs touched down here late Tuesday morning, fresh off a grueling seven-game victory over New Orleans in the Western Conference semifinals, they were bestowed with a gift guaranteed to make them all feel young again.
In a blast from the not-so-distant past, the Spurs and Lakers meet tonight in Game 1 of the conference finals at Staples Center, rekindling memories of what not long ago was the NBA’s pre-eminent rivalry.
From 1999 to 2004, the Spurs and Lakers stood as twin pillars in the Western Conference.
In what once seemed like an annual rite of late spring, the two teams met five times in the playoffs over that span, combining for five NBA titles.
Welcome to the 2008 Western Conference finals, which, if you squint your eyes just right, could be the 2001 Western Conference finals. It is a series tailor-made for those with an abiding nostalgia for Russell Crowe movies, the final episode of “Friends” and the last days of grunge music.
“It makes me feel 32 again,” said Robert Horry, the 37-year-old Spurs reserve who played for both teams in his championship-studded career.
The rivalry fell dormant when Shaquille O’Neal left Los Angeles after the 2004 season. The Lakers dynasty crumbled, and the Spurs moved on to other foils.
But thanks to the Lakers’ sudden resurgence in the West — they finished 57-25 this season to capture the conference’s top seed — the past is back en vogue.
“It always used to come down to these two teams,” said Spurs swingman Ime Udoka, who broke into the league on a 10-day contract with the Lakers in 2004. “It seemed like whoever won was the favorite to win it all.”
In the last postseason entanglement between the two teams, the 2004 conference semifinals, Derek Fisher all but bounced the Spurs with his notorious Game 5 game-winner with 0.4 of a second to go. It took about 0.4 of a second more for the Lakers’ empire to come unraveled after that.
Los Angeles lost to Detroit in the 2004 NBA Finals, O’Neal was traded to Miami, and the Lakers went wandering in a wasteland of mediocrity, struggling to rebuild around their remaining supernova, the mercurial Kobe Bryant.
Meanwhile, the Spurs remained at or near the league’s pinnacle, winning two titles since the Lakers’ last one. The core of this year’s Spurs team — Tim Duncan, Parker, Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen — hasn’t changed since Fisher’s 2004 miracle.
“Not a lot has changed,” said Horry, a veteran of seven seasons with the Lakers from 1997 to 2003. “Good thing about that is, I know a little bit of their offense and what they’re trying to do. It will be fun.”
Yet much else has changed for the Lakers since the rivalry’s heyday. Coach Phil Jackson left and returned. So did Fisher. O’Neal left and never came back, eventually landing in Phoenix where, in another nod to yesteryear, the Spurs were responsible for his playoff ouster this season.
After years of a power struggle with O’Neal, Bryant is the team’s unquestioned centerpiece, turning in his first MVP season after averaging a conference-leading 28.3 points per game. That number has risen to 33.3 per game in the playoffs.
“As we all know, Kobe is the best player on the planet,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Not because he is the MVP, but because he just is.”
It wasn’t until Feb. 1 of this year, however, that the Lakers finally appeared prepared to regain their place as a thorn in the Spurs’ side.
That’s when general manager Mitch Kupchak pulled off the deal of the decade, acquiring All-Star Pau Gasol from Memphis for a collection of spare parts.
Gasol, with a preternatural passing ability that belies his 7-foot frame, was practically made for Jackson’s triangle offense. With Gasol teamed with the otherworldly Bryant, the Lakers won the most competitive Western Conference race in recent memory.
Now, the Spurs once again find the Lakers in their championship path. It’s enough to make even an old point guard feel young.
“It feels like my first or second year in the league,” Parker said. “It never gets old.”