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Look for the Spurs to counter with a heavy-handed uppercut.Look for the Lakers to deliver a knockout.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_9371749
Rumble or tumble, Spurs
By Benjamin Hochman
The Denver Post
The rope-a-dope worked once.
The San Antonio Spurs were pummeled in Games 1 and 2 against the Hornets in New Orleans. But the Spurs came out swinging in Games 3 and 4, and the champions, like Ali in Zaire, were back to being the "champs."
But here we are, the Spurs' backs back against the ropes. San Antonio lost Games 1 and 2 in the Western Conference finals in Los Angeles.
This series will be defined tonight in San Antonio.
History tells us that no team has come back from down 3-0, and if it's these Lakers up 3-0, with their rolling-boulder momentum, the next game in L.A. should be Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
But there's something about these Spurs. We've learned so much about them in the past decade. Their unflappability. Their quiet confidence. Their resiliency, seen just last series, when they won Games 3 and 4 against the Hornets in San Antonio — and when they won Game 7 in New Orleans, after getting blown out in three games there.
Here's the most fascinating aspect of the Spurs. Through all of this winning, they're somehow considered "dull" for slowing down the game, humbly playing as a team and playing tough defense — yet, when flashy, run-and-gun teams don't do that, the same fans who call the Spurs "dull" also yearn for these teams to play the way the Spurs play.
But, just as Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke said his team "ran into a buzzsaw" that was the Los Angeles Lakers, the Spurs could very well be in mid-shred.
What do the Spurs need to do tonight? Naturally, they need to feed off the desperate home crowd, many with tickets to Game 6. They need Manu Ginobili to persevere through ankle pain, disregarding X-rays, becoming the X-factor. He has scored only 17 combined points in Games 1 and 2 and made just 5-of-21 shots. And they need Tony Parker, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, to regain his swagger. Even his coach, Gregg Popovich, said he was "a little tentative," which is as insulting to a point guard as saying a beauty pageant contestant has a good personality.
In these conference finals, both the Spurs and Lakers, similar to Boston and Detroit in the East, are flirting with history — while past history looms.
For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant seeks that one missing accomplishment on his resume, to be the marquee player on a le team. The Spurs, meanwhile, look to put an extra layer of cement on their dynasty, winning back-to-back les for the first time. The Celtics understand that all this talk about the new "Big Three" is for naught if they can't win on the grand stage like Bird-Parish-McHale did in the 1980s. And the Pistons have reached the Eastern Conference finals for a sixth straight season, but with just one NBA championship in that run so far, they're becoming the Atlanta Braves of basketball.
As for the Spurs, winners of three les in the past five years, tonight will determine if it's going to be four-in-six.
If the Spurs win, they can play Game 4 in the friendly confines of home to neatly tie up the series.
But winning Game 3 will take perfect basketball against a team with a driven MVP, as well as a supporting cast ascending beautifully this postseason.
Look for the Lakers to deliver a knockout.
Look for the Spurs to counter with a heavy-handed uppercut.Look for the Lakers to deliver a knockout.
Never discount the heart of a champion.
Home teams have had a very lopsided winning percentage this whole playoff year.
Desperation plus homecourt equals good contest tonight.
How quickly everyone forgets they are the SPURS. Not even close tonight. Spurs in a blowout.
If Spurs can win tonight, I would not count them out of it.
Appropriate article. These are the reigning champions. Capable team, with capable leaders and a capable coach.
They command respect.
Which may also be their undoing.
This is a Laker team led by the experienced and battle tested Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson. Much like the Spurs.
Unlike Chris Paul and his young guns.
This is a team that knows it has merely held serve. The respect the Spurs command, will be the same respect that could lead the Lakers to victory.
There will be no complacency. They're playing the Spurs.
As the promo says, "Fear is good. I like the fear. It means, I'm close."
The Celtics Big 3 never went back-to-back. Doesn't mean that they ain't a dynasty, it just means that they never did the repeat thing.The Spurs, meanwhile, look to put an extra layer of cement on their dynasty, winning back-to-back les for the first time. The Celtics understand that all this talk about the new "Big Three" is for naught if they can't win on the grand stage like Bird-Parish-McHale did in the 1980s.
we can ill afford a loss here at home.....go spurs go
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