The 2002 Lakers-Spurs matchup has to be the forgotten series of the Team Duncan era

[Kawhitstorm]

The Spurs could have easily won that series if there was anyone on the team besides Tim that could make a shot in the 4th quarter. It was similar to the 2006 Spurs/Mavs series in how every game was basically decided in the final 2 minutes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_N...Angeles_Lakers

Steve Smith was absolutely in' useless & Admiral was out for the majority of the series (Mark in' Bryant was the starting center).

***I'm going to summarize each game in detail b/c there were so many things that went wrong for the Spurs in the 4th quarter of EACH game (even the lone victory they squeaked out)***

Background: After getting demolished by the Lakers in the 2001 WCF, Pop acquired Bowen & traded Derek Anderson for Steve Smith. Avery was let go & Antonio Daniels was supposed to be the starting PG but Porker took his job with the first month. The Spurs eventually finish the season as the 2nd seed behind the Kings.

Tim had demolished the #7 seed Sonics in the 1st rd (http://www.basketball-reference.com/...-vs-spurs.html) & put up Hakeem like numbers (26/11/5/6; FG: 50%; FT: 89%) in a 5 game series (he missed Gm 4 to attend his father funeral). Rookie Porker played the role of wingman by burning Gary Payton (who was at the tail end of his prime) for 17pt on 50% shooting. (Admiral only played in deciding Gm 5 & he only made a 7 minutes cameo appearance)

In the 2nd rd, the Spurs faced the #3 seed Lakers(who had swept the Blazers) but didn't have homecourt (lost H2H: 1-3)

-Gm 1: Mark Bryant started at center against PRIME Shaq but the 1st quarter end up being a defensive struggle & the Spurs go into intermission with a 38-32 lead dominating at STAPLES helped by Tim's flurry to end the 2nd quarter. The Lakers make a run in the 3rd quarter to tie the score but the Spurs end the quarter with a 4 point lead. At the 9 minute mark in the 4th quarter the Spurs still have a 4 point lead & Pop decides to rest Tim then all break loose. Shaq immediately score 6 points in a one minute stretch to give the Lakers a 1 point lead which is when Tim checks back into the game. Then both team exchange baskets & the lead all the way until the 1 minute mark when Shaq answers Malik Rose' basket to put the Lakers up 3. Bowen misses a 3 & Kobe score on the other end to put the Lakers up 5 with 24 seconds left in the game. Steve Smith gets blocked by Fox shooting a 3 but gets the ball back & missed again making it his third consecutive missed 3 of the 4th quarter. Shaq dominated the 4th quarter by scoring 13 points including hitting clutch FTs while the Lakers doubled Tim w/ Shaq (at time triple teams w/ Fisher digging in for the ball) & dared Malik Rose to beat them (Malik went 4-14).

Gm 2: Mark Bryant starts at center yet again & the Spurs go into intermission with a 16 point lead at STAPLES thanks to Antonio Daniels balling out in the 2nd quarter & badly outplaying Kirby. The Lakers try to make a run in the 3rd quarter led by Kirby/Snack & cut the lead to 4 at the 6 minute mark but Tim/Porker hold them off before the Lakers went on an 8-0 run to close the 3rd quarter, cutting the lead down to 8. At the 6 minute mark of the 4th quarter the Spurs have an 11 point lead after a Tim free-throw then the Lakers decided to triple team Tim & suffocate him meanwhile Shaq/Kirby/Fisher go on a run to cut the lead down to 1 with under 2 minutes left in the game. The Lakers double Tim & he finds Rose for a layup to give the Spurs a 3 point cushion. Shaq/Kirby miss shots but a loose ball foul gets called on Porker & Fisher hit one to cut the lead to 2 with 28 seconds left in the game. Shaq strips Tim with 8 seconds left in the game & Kirby get the ball with a chance to tie the game but he's called for traveling with 1 second left in the game. (Tim had 10 turnover in that game flustered by the double/triple teams) The series is now tied 1-1 going to the Alamodome.

Gm 3: Admiral makes his series debut & the Spurs finish the 1st quarter with a 4 point lead thanks to Porker's 12 early pts. In the 2nd quarter Kirby starts chucking away & scores 12 pt on 13 shots & the Lakers go into intermission with a 1 point lead at the Alamodome. In the 3rd quarter, things go south for the after Tim gives the Spurs a one point lead at the 8 minute mark. Shaq isn't bothering to guard Admiral who misses a put back shot & a wide open baseline shot eventually he picks up two fouls on one play ending his 3rd quarter at the 7 minute mark. Rose checks in & Shaq bulldozes him for 10 consecutive points while the Spurs exchange shots with him. Fisher scores the last 5 points for the Lakers & they end the 4th quarter with a 3 point lead. Shaq/Admiral check into the game early in the 4th quarter with the Lakers up 5 & Tim/Admrial combine for 6 to put the Spurs up 1 at the 8 minute mark. Then there is a scoring drought by both teams until the 5 minute mark before Kirby makes a layup to put the Lakers up 3. The Lakers then triple team Tim & there is a jump ball between Fisher/Tim. Tim ends up winning the tip but he gets triple teamed again & turns the ball over. Kirby hits a shot to put the Lakers up 6 with under 3 minutes left in the game then Admiral gets fouled by Shaq sending him to the foul line......& he missed BOTH FTs. Horry score on the other end at the 2 minute mark to put the Lakers up 8 & the game was essentially over. (Admiral fouled out in 22 minutes & Kirby scored 31 on 31 shots )

Gm 4: The Spurs backs are against the wall but they are playing on their home turf. The game starts with Tim/Tony/Admiral exchanging shots with Horry/Fisher/Shaq with Horry scoring 8 quick points to put the Lakers up 6 at the midway point of the 1st quarter but the Lakers go on a 4 minutes scoring drought & the Spurs take a 2 point lead at the 2 minute mark courtesy of an Admiral layup. The 1st quarter end in a tie with Horry/Admiral scoring 8 points each while Kirby only has 2pts. Both team score only 6 pts each in the first 5 minute of the 2nd quarter before Shaq/Tim start exchanging shot at the 7 minute mark & the Spurs have a 5 pt lead at the 3 minute mark thanks to Kirby shooting brick during the Shaq/Tim duel. The teams go into intermission with the Spurs up 4. The Spurs start the 3rd with a flurry to take a 9 point lead. Kirby/Snack try to cut the lead but the Spurs keep them at bay & finish the quarter with an 8 point lead after Snack commits a flagrant foul on Antonio Daniels. Aside a Rose basket to put the Spurs up 10, neither team could score in the first 3 minutes of the 4th quarter. The Spurs still had a 10 pt lead at the 6 minute mark of the 4th quarter after Tim hit 2 FTs. Starting at the 5 minutes mark the Lakers started triple teamming Tim & Porker startered unraveling, within 50 seconds the lead is cut to 5. The Lakers then dared Ferry to hit a shot which results in two bricks on consecutive possession thus the Spurs were unable to quell the Lakers run. Kirby hits a 3 to cut the lead to 2 after got ass Antonio Daniels leaves him WIDE open to freelance (got him immediately benched) which was when Tim decided he was going to take matters into his own hand. He gets fouled while forcing a shot & hits one FT then Kirby hit another 3 to tie the game at the 2 minute mark.

The Spurs finish the game without scoring in the final 2 minutes:
-Admiral bricks a wide open baseline shot after Tim kicks it out to him when Shaq doubled
-Bowen bricks a desperation 2 pointer after Tim steals the ball
-Tim gets pissed at his teammates & tries to force a shot resulting in an offensive foul
-Tim is guarding Horry who misses a 3 but got ass Admiral is boxing out Fox instead of Shaq (Ferry was on him) who gets the offensive rebound with 29 seconds remaining in a tie game
-After milking the clock Kirby dribbled the ball off his feet & almost commits a backcourt violation but Fisher saved the ball & took a desperation jumper with 7 seconds remaining.
-During the scramble Porker was switched onto Kirby but his got ass turns his back when Fisher put up the shot instead of putting a body on Kirby who swoops toward the rim unheeded & gets the offensive rebound for a put back which ended up being the game winner.



Conclusion: Porker has ALWAYS been a front-running/choking ass got & ALWAYS seemingly shows his true colors when the game is on the line ( outa here with those LUCKY/DESPERATION baskets against the Heat in the 2013 Finals: banking in a shot after falling on his knees, stepback 3). The biggest shot of his career is scoring on a fastbreak against Chalmers.

Gm 5 other than the fact Tim had 34/25/4 & averaged 29/17/5 vs. Prime Snack (21/12/3) (Kirby didn't have to play defense b/c he hiding on Bruce Bowen but that all changed when Jack/Manu arrived in 2002-03....the Spurs would have beaten the Lakers in '02 if Tim had Manu/Jack/Speedy & we would have seen an epic Kings/Spurs series)

[TDfan2007]

I started following the NBA the year after this series, but I watched replays of the games later. Man...that series was brutal. That 2002 team was not very good and had no business being a 3-seed and going toe-to-toe with the defending champs, but that's how great Timmy was back then. From 2001-2004 it was always Timmy vs. that Kobe/Shaq combo, and the Spurs really struggled to close games against them. After D-Rob fell off a cliff offensively (due to injury) around 2000, Timmy didn't have a consistent #2 until Manu went nuclear in 2005, but by that time the Lakers had already imploded

Phil had the perfect gameplan. Let Timmy go off on Horry, etc. in the first 3 quarters, then come 4th quarter he'd put Shaq on him and send help, knowing full well that the rest of our guys couldn't handle the pressure.

If the Spurs found a way to pull that series out there's a great chance that they would have won the le. Timmy always owned the Kings and we usually played them pretty well, and Nets

[daslicer]

That series showed to me that Duncan was truly better than both Kobe/Shaq since the Lakers could barely beat the spurs in all the games they won in the series despite being more talented. It was frustrating because the Spurs would have the lead every game after the first 3 quarters only to lose it in the fourth. I truly felt after that series the Spurs would beat the Lakers in '03 since they were only 1 good player away from beating them in the '02 series.

[Sean Cagney]

I still wonder how in the that team won 58 games and was giving LA a problem in that series with some of the guys they started that year, it's amazing how great Tim was at the time and lead that team to the 2nd round and 58 wins. Do you think Kobe could have done that with the same team? I highly doubt it.

Cherokee Parks got minutes on that team for Gods sakes

That series showed to me that Duncan was truly better than both Kobe/Shaq since the Lakers could barely beat the spurs in all the games they won in the series despite being more talented. It was frustrating because the Spurs would have the lead every game after the first 3 quarters only to lose it in the fourth. I truly felt after that series the Spurs would beat the Lakers in '03 since they were only 1 good player away from beating them in the '02 series.

^^^ This.

[daslicer]

I still wonder how in the that team won 58 games and was giving LA a problem in that series with some of the guys they started that year, it's amazing how great Tim was at the time and lead that team to the 2nd round and 58 wins. Do you think Kobe could have done that with the same team? I highly doubt it.

Cherokee Parks got minutes on that team for Gods sakes

He leads them to 30 wins and the lottery.

[houston spurs fan]

Player fan with way too much time on his hands....

[snickles]

wow....i read and actually enjoyed reading everything up until the embedded video, and had several comments to add.

then the agenda driven bull at the end. what a waste.

[NameLess Scrub]

Can't remember any of that. I remember watching the Kings series when Kobe broke Bibby's nose with no call.

[Sean Cagney]

Player fan with way too much time on his hands....

No question at all IMO, this is the truth. That is how I guage impact and who is the better player, not just stats.

[houston spurs fan]

No question at all IMO, this is the truth. That is how I guage impact and who is the better player, not just stats.

I personally have a problem with referring to DRob as " got ass." Zero respect for our team and history...

[afireinside20]

That series against the Lakers was also they're undoing. They created a monster, as the Spurs came back the following year with a stronger motivation. We had a determined Tim Duncan, a young rookie Manu, S-Jax, Parker, and a newly revamped squad. We had veteran leadership with Willis and Kerr, and the rest is history.

[spursistan]

Tim Duncan + "perennial All star in prime" = 7 les (three-peat+ repeat+1)..Shame he didn't have his Wade/Bryant wing ....

[Benoit]

That series against the Lakers was also they're undoing. They created a monster, as the Spurs came back the following year with a stronger motivation. We had a determined Tim Duncan, a young rookie Manu, S-Jax, Parker, and a newly revamped squad. We had veteran leadership with Willis and Kerr, and the rest is history.

The Lakers imploded

Pop and Duncan teams have never been able to beat Kobe and Phil teams

[daslicer]

The Lakers imploded

Pop and Duncan teams have never been able to beat Kobe and Phil teams

Great to see yourself being a true Laker fan for once instead of being a fake warrior fans.

[Kawhitstorm]

That series showed to me that Duncan was truly better than both Kobe/Shaq since the Lakers could barely beat the spurs in all the games they won in the series despite being more talented. It was frustrating because the Spurs would have the lead every game after the first 3 quarters only to lose it in the fourth. I truly felt after that series the Spurs would beat the Lakers in '03 since they were only 1 good player away from beating them in the '02 series.

Meanwhile you still have gots claiming Shaq was unmatched b/w 2000-02 when Tim neutralized him in 2001 (Gm 2: Tim put up 40/15/4/3 on 57% shooting Vs. Snack's 19/14/4/1 on 38% shooting & the Spurs STILL lost) & outplayed him in 2002 along w/ beating him in 99 & '03 while Snack was in his PRIME. If you swapped Webber with Tim then the Kings would have CONVINCINGLY beaten the Lakers in 2002 & the Spurs would have been worse than KG's wolves.

[Kawhitstorm]

I still wonder how in the that team won 58 games and was giving LA a problem in that series with some of the guys they started that year, it's amazing how great Tim was at the time and lead that team to the 2nd round and 58 wins. Do you think Kobe could have done that with the same team? I highly doubt it.

The 2000-02 Spurs supporting cast were no better than what LeBron had in his first stint w/ the Cavs & they both DESERVINGLY won those back-to-back MVPs unlike guys like Bird/Magic who were playing with MULTIPLE HOFers when they won three straight MVPs which are used to prop them up on the all-time top 10 rankings.

Magic turned into Tragic Johnson in the 84 Finals but ain't nobody talks about it, Magic got outplayed by Kevin Johnson in his MVP season but ain't nobody talking about it....I wonder why all those nostalgic hate on the post Bird/Magic era? Maybe because white superstars ceased to exist which is why they tried to proclaim Dirk as the best player in the league after the 2011 Finals despite shooting 41% & getting outplayed by Wade (before he got injured in G m 5) in those Finals.

Bird gets a pass for not winning B2B when LeBron accomplished the feat & he STILL gets labeled as an underachiever. Moses single handily beat the same Lakers that Bird couldn't beat with 3 HOFers but ain't nobody putting Moses on a pedestal b/c his isn't white like Bill Walton. They also don't show love to Hakeem b/c he's a devout Muslim.

[Kawhitstorm]

wow....i read and actually enjoyed reading everything up until the embedded video, and had several comments to add.

then the agenda driven bull at the end. what a waste.

PORKER he can choke on his own & die.

Thank god Steve Smith got injured early in 2002 otherwise Jack would have never been inserted into the starting line-up.

Thank god for Speed Claxton for falling on Pop's lap otherwise PORKER would have choked away the 2003 Finals which was more compe ive than folks make it seem.

[FromWayDowntown]

I personally have a problem with referring to DRob as " got ass." Zero respect for our team and history...

Beyond that, the statement is just stupid in terms of what actually happened back then.

It would have been easy for David Robinson to have opted-out of the 2002 series against the Lakers, using his bad back as an excuse to avoid banging with Shaq. David didn't do that. He worked his ass off to be able to play and trying to do whatever he could to slow Shaq down, even in an diminished state.

Pretty ridiculous to call someone who did that a " got ass," whatever that means.

[Kawhitstorm]

Beyond that, the statement is just stupid in terms of what actually happened back then.

It would have been easy for David Robinson to have opted-out of the 2002 series against the Lakers, using his bad back as an excuse to avoid banging with Shaq. David didn't do that. He worked his ass off to be able to play and trying to do whatever he could to slow Shaq down, even in an diminished state.

Pretty ridiculous to call someone who did that a " got ass," whatever that means.

out here with your social justice warrior agenda, EAT A YOU SOFT ASS GOT!

Admiral was exposed as a in the 2000 postseason when Tim wasn't their to wipe his ass. He also played like a in the 98 playoffs when ROOKIE Tim was playing second fiddle b/c it was still Admiral's team that all changed in '99. Admiral was the only guy that could make Karl Malone seem like a clutch postseason performer as he did on numerous occasions.

[Kawhitstorm]

The Lakers imploded

Pop and Duncan teams have never been able to beat Kobe and Phil teams

Remind me what the Worriers accomplished during that period...

[Kawhitstorm]

Tim Duncan + "perennial All star in prime" = 7 les (three-peat+ repeat+1)..Shame he didn't have his Wade/Bryant wing ....

At least he didn't waste the PEAK of his prime like KG.

[FromWayDowntown]

out here with your social justice warrior agenda, EAT A YOU SOFT ASS GOT!

Admiral was exposed as a in the 2000 postseason when Tim wasn't their to wipe his ass. He also played like a in the 98 playoffs when ROOKIE Tim was playing second fiddle b/c it was still Admiral's team that all changed in '99. Admiral was the only guy that could make Karl Malone seem like a clutch postseason performer as he did on numerous occasions.

Oh. You showed me.

[Kawhitstorm]

Oh. You showed me.

Log off, fam

[Benoit]

Remind me what the Worriers accomplished during that period...

That was the Lakers era

Now its the Dubs era

[FromWayDowntown]

Log off, fam

Dude's a first ballot Hall of Famer, fam, and one of the 25 best players in the history of the game. That book is closed.

But keep up your crusade, bruh.