Things Get Scary for Spurs

By Mark Heisler

May 10, 2003 12 AM PT

Anyone need 1,000 brooms in black and silver?

Having won a title of his own, Spur Coach Gregg Popovich wasn’t about to underestimate the heart of a champion, even one as embattled as the Lakers, who turned back into the Lakers on Friday night and turned this back into a series.

Unfortunately for Popovich, his players didn’t feel quite as embattled, although they should be on their way now, after getting hammered, 110-95, in what is now a 2-1 series.

“I thought the Lakers did a great job tonight of playing aggressively, sharing the basketball, executing at both ends of the court for most of the 48 minutes,” said Popovich. “I think we did that for 15 or 20, possibly all in the second half....

“I don’t think we came with an appropriate fear sort of thing. I think a little bit of fear is good for you. And we played as though we thought somebody was going to give something to us. Or the three-time champions were going to say, ‘OK, you win.’

“Obviously, a bit too much satisfaction seeped in there somehow or other and it really surprises me. That’s something that I would not expect from our group.”

If Popovich wants to really terrorize his group, all he has to do is show them the videotape of the game, in which Bruce Bowen goes from 27 points in Game 2 to three, missing six of seven shots. Tony Parker scores two points, missing seven of eight shots. Stephen Jackson shoots three for 12. Manu Ginobili, who scored 15 and 17 in the first two games, gets eight.

“He’s 20,” said Popovich of Parker. “He has nights where he’s fantastic and he has others where maybe he’s not.

“It’s going to be the same thing with Jack and with Manu. It’s been like that all year long. I mean, they’re young guys, just learning what this is all about. There are going to be nights when maybe they’re not very good.”

Gee, how will the Spurs ever get the Lakers’ respect this way?

Showing who is who in this matchup, reporters still ask the Spurs if they think the Lakers respect them now.

Confirming the pecking order, the Spurs players answer.

“We didn’t really think much about the opposition on the Bulls,” the Spurs’ Steve Kerr, who played for Phil Jackson in Chicago, said before the game. “But I don’t remember us saying that much, either.

“I mean, I think the reason there’s a feeling the Lakers don’t respect anybody, you hear Shaq [O’Neal] say things like we’re a WNBA team. Does that show a whole lot of respect? No. If you ask me, it’s kind of a natural response, isn’t it?”

Then there’s Jackson, who pronounced Kings’ fans “semi-civilized” and said the Spurs’ title should have an asterisk on it because of the lockout-shortened season.

“He says stuff about every team,” says Kerr, who remains close to Jackson. “Last year [when Kerr was in Portland], before the series, he said he was amazed the community still supported the team, given the character of the players. C’mon, Phil. Leave us alone, all right?

“It’s all been about the officiating [in this series], which is ironic. I’m sure they’re getting some laughs in Sacramento about that, after last year. Now it’s about the officials. Last year it wasn’t.”

It was really getting to be about the officials in the second quarter, when the zebras had the effrontery to call a third foul on O’Neal, obliging Jackson to take him out with 5:12 left in the half, with the Spurs having just whittled a 15-point Laker lead to 39-32.

It was so bad a balding fan wearing sunglasses came out of the stands and began haranguing referee Mark Wunderlich with an operatic waving of arms.

Oh, that was Jack Nicholson?

This was an unexpected bit of theater for TNT, which smartly began showing a picture of Nicholson playing his deranged role in “The Shining.”

“There should be something said when Jack Nicholson talks to an official, like he’s his child,” said Bowen afterward.

“Jimmy Buffett got thrown out of a game in Miami and he didn’t say anything nearly as intense as what Jack said.”

Unfortunately for the Spurs, after O’Neal went out, and Nicholson sat down, the Lakers finished the half on an 11-5 run, and the rest was garbage time.

Popovich was asked if he saw any positives Friday.

“There’s another game on Sunday,” he said. “And nobody got hurt.”

They want the truth? They couldn’t handle the truth, at least not Friday night.