Kleeman's Last Word

Spurs try emerging from L.A.-sized series deficit

The Spurs cannot win the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Tonight. The Spurs will not make their first back-to-back trip to the NBA Finals. Tonight. There will be no fifth late june river parade or Alamodome celebration. Tonight.

The Spurs face their second elimination game of the playoffs at 8 p.m. in Los Angeles, knowing they are far from competing for a repeat championship. The only thing left for them is to win tonight.

And when they contemplate what landed them in this dreadful 3-1 hole, they need not look anywhere else--Joey Crawford, David Stern or the owners of fully-booked New Orleans hotels--but at themselves. The Spurs dug this hole and only they can get themselves out of it.

Stealing game 5 will prove no easy task. The Spurs have been on the other side of this deficit three times in the last two playoff runs. Against the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns, the Spurs had homecourt advantage and knew that anything less than a closeout in game 5 could mean a game 7.

Derek Fisher will gaurantee his teammates tonight that they want no part of a game 6 in San Antonio. He is a smart, driven player and that should scare the Spurs. He knows what could happen if the Lakers let tonight's game slip away. If the game is close in the final minutes and a scrum for a loose ball with Michael Finley unfolds, he will not throw a desperate punch.

The player who acts as the team's morter is no idiot. The intelligent Spurs have feasted in the last 10 years on immature squads with stupid players. They will face no such leader tonight.

Kobe Bryant may be this game's best player but Fisher makes the Lakers a contender. If he made Shaq and Kobe work, he can certainly do the same with this team.

But, the Spurs have a shot to extend this series for many reasons. Phil Jackson knows they are the only team that can.

Gregg Popovich runs a no-excuses operation and will not permit his players to think about the Brent Barry-Fisher no-call in game 4. He will offer them the tools to "participate in their own recovery" and they will perform the operation.

The Spurs had golden opportunities to win every game in this series, including the game 2 blowout. The Lakers had no chance to win game 3.

The Spurs blew a 20-point lead in game 1, stopped attacking a porous interior defense in game 2 and botched 12 chances to take a lead in game 4.

They don't have to prove they can play with these Lakers. They have already done that. Now, they just have to win.

BARRY'S NO CALL HIGHLIGHTS NBA'S CHIEF PROBLEM

When Fisher bumped Barry on a three point attempt at the end of game 4, the refs swallowed their whistles. Replays clearly showed Fisher commiting a foul and the NBA admitted as much Wednesday afternoon.
However, both Popovich and Barry agreed with the no call.
"If I was a referee, I would not have whistled a foul," Popovich said after game 4.
Given the way officials referee the game, not allowing a tweep to decide the game with free throws was a consistent call.
However, the national debate that ensued the next day re-exposed the league's official flaw.

An integral part of the game that should be objective has never been. That bump was a foul and Barry should have been rewarded with at least two free throws!
It is understandable that an official might shy away from giving the team with 11 more free throws another end-of-game break.

The Spurs certainly did not earn the call and got what they deserved for lackadaisical execution out of timeouts and a pathetic rebounding effort. David Stern continues to assert, even after the Donaghy scandal, that the NBA runs the tightest referee ship in the land.

Refs do not fix NBA games, and the team with 11 more free throws losing game 4 proves this. What is a foul? From player to player and series to series, nobody knows. Is it a man's game or a ticky tack contest?

At the end of game 3 in last June's Finals, Bruce Bowen fouled LeBron James before a potential game-tying trey attempt. The refs did not blow a whistle, preserving a Spurs 75-72 victory, but James should have been rewarded with two free throws.

In both cases, national media and other players have said James and Barry could have done more to sell the call. That's the problem. Why do players need to sell a foul if the rules say it is a foul?

If a player steps out of bounds? No sale needed. Why then are players resigned to acting to earn legitimate calls?

Blow the damn whistle, guys!

POOR GAME 4 EXECUTION IS DISTURBING

The Spurs set up 12 chances to grab a lead in a must-win game 4 and failed every time. The team fans can count on to score out of timeouts never looked worse.
They did not get good looks, they got great looks.
Twice the Spurs trailed by two points and Popovich drew up a play that earned Bowen an uncontested corner three pointer. He missed both from "his spot." The play called was not the problem. Given Bowen's history of making them, if no defender is within 50 feet, I want him taking his signature shot.

For much of the game, normally confident veterans acted tentatively. Robert Horry passed up WIDE OPEN threes, Tim Duncan opted three times not to atack Pau Gasol, who cannot guard him, in a one-on-one situation. Tony Parker quit, for the most part, driving to the basket in the second half. The Lakers nearly gifted the Spurs a series tie. They could never grab a lead to steal the momentum back.

Great defense or poor execution? If the champion Spurs show up tonight, Phil Jackson will know the answer.

LAKER FANS SHOULD NOT BOTHER SPURS.

The Spurs do not have home court advantage in that they must play one more road game. In a battle of crowds and fan loyalty, the Spurs win by a mile.

Has Ashton Kutcher supported the Lakers his entire life or does he just attend games as a "cool guy?" I suspect the latter of him and most celebrity "Laker fans." I would say the same for most of the obnoxious clowns who raid the AT&T Center every time purple and gold plays in San Antonio.

I know that Jack Nicholson is a real fan who attends every home game and cares about the outcome. I cannot say the same for other famous fans.

LAKERS-CELTICS OBSESSION HURTS NBA'S CREDIBILITY
David Stern has spent the last few days in his New York office marveling at the possibility. The NBA's two proudest and most decorated franchises could meet in the 2008 Finals.

Both the Lakers and Boston Celtics are one win away from setting up a series most believe will garner monster TV ratings and "revive" the league. That so many people are fawning over this potential matchup is a disgrace to the game.

It also shows you the poor job the league has done in marketing the other 28 teams. The Spurs should be as popular as the Lakers and have certainly earned it.

The last team to get this much league-sponsored hype was Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. They had the best player in the world and a sure-fire dynasty in the making.

But wait, the Spurs are also a dynasty. The Lakers could end a four-time champion's title hopes tonight and no one outside of Central Texas will shed a tear. That's wrong. That's bogus.

I take no issue with the 16 championship banners in Boston or the many in L.A. The two teams have earned their proud history. However, the NBA has 30 teams, not two.

The league has done a putrid job of selling small market San Antonio. The NBA created this Celtics-Lakers monster, and if the Spurs lose tonight, may God give Stern everything he and other executives want.

Excuse my language, but fuck this rivalry and the bandwagoners who rode in on its horse.

The Celtics and Lakers have great teams this year, no question. But, the NBA has 30 teams, not two.

SPURS FACE AN OPPORTUNITY, NOT A DEATH SENTENCE

If the Spurs can view tonight's elimination game as an opportunity to silence Laker fans for at least one night, to prevent the sure-to-come drivel about their extinction for one more day, they can steal it.

The motivations to win on the road tonight are self-explanatory.

Tonight is a wonderful chance, not an impossible task. The Spurs know the odds and the numbers. They have won each of their four championships by ignoring them.

All they must do is win tonight.

posted by Robert Kleeman @ 1:10 PM