For Spurs, Today Probably Won’t Turn Out Any Better

It was a rare sight, a two-on-one San Antonio Spurs fast break that broke up quickly when Michael Cooper blocked a dunk attempt by Alvin Robertson.

When Cooper’s sneakers touched the floor, he was already talking to Robertson.

How did the conversation go?

“Oh, I was inviting him over for dinner,” Cooper said. “Actually, though, we were discussing the weather.”

But seriously now, what did you really say?

“I said ‘No, not this time,’ ” Cooper said.

The discussion during Game 1 between the Lakers and Spurs might be worth remembering, especially since it may actually have lasted about as long as this series will.

For better or worse, Game 2 has arrived for the Lakers as well as the Spurs, whose hopes for reversing the 47-point blowout they suffered Thursday night and beating the Lakers do not appear too good.

Then again, you might wonder if the Lakers are destined to fall flat from such a high and allow the Spurs to tie the series with a victory.

Will it happen?

No, probably not this time either.

Of course, anything can happen, so let’s look at the preparations for Game 2. Both teams worked out Friday, and after the Laker practice, Coach Pat Riley again insisted that the Spurs remain a dangerous team.

At about the same moment, Spur Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons hopped into his car and headed for the race track. Know what’s really dangerous? Betting the same horses Fitzsimmons did.

The Spurs are just a little down on their luck right now. Robertson said the idea is to put Cooper’s block and the Spurs’ worst playoff loss in history far behind.

“I take my hat off to him.” Robertson said. “Any time you get beat like we did, it’s just totally embarrassing. Nobody liked that even a little bit.”

Nobody except the Lakers, that is. While the Spurs were flaming out in epic proportions, the Lakers busied themselves assembling one of their most overpowering games of any playoff season.

Almost nothing went wrong for the Lakers, which might leave them with the unsettling notion that the Spurs maneuvered them into some sort of oddball psychological corner by getting hammered by 47 points.

If today’s game at the Forum is close, does it mean the Lakers are slipping?

Not at all, said Riley.

“That first game is over, finished,” he said. “I can talk all I want to about being overconfident, but whether or not it’s there, remains to be seen. All the psychological things that are discussed, either pro or con, get thrown out the window in a short series. It’s just an attitude.”

In Cooper’s fertile mind, attitude is one of the best parts of his game. It is why he decided to risk a broken limb by blocking a dunk attempt by Spur center Artis Gilmore, who stands 7 inches taller than Cooper and outweighs him by about 80 pounds.

“Those thoughts did flash through my mind,” Cooper said. “Everybody knows Artis is the strongest man in the league.”

What Cooper may lack in bulk he usually makes up in aggression. But near the end of the regular season, an opposing coach thought that Cooper had not played with the same intensity level, especially defensively, that he had last season.

In Thursday night’s playoff opener, Cooper played as if he had heard the critique. He worked 27 minutes, made 6 of 7 shots, among them a three-pointer, and finished with 6 assists to go along with his 2 blocked shots.

In the meantime, Cooper was busy talking to Wes Matthews, Robertson and just about anyone who would listen. Cooper shook his finger in the air and waved to his wife in the stands.

All in all, it was vintage Cooper, even if it wasn’t vintage Spurs.

“Coop gets himself stoked up with all that kind of stuff,” Riley said. “That’s what he has to have to be successful.”

Cooper would not say that he felt a little extra incentive since he will become a free agent when the playoffs are over or since Robertson is touted as a better defender.

“In my mind, I feel I’m one of the better defenders in the league,” Cooper said. “Alvin Robertson is the other.”

It’s a matter of confidence then, which is also what today’s game becomes. There is no room for the Lakers to be overconfident, Cooper said.

“One game doesn’t make a series,” he said. “We are not overlooking this team. A one-point victory is just as good as a 47-point victory. I’m sure they’ll be mad as hell.”

And pretty soon, they won’t have to take it anymore.

Laker Notes Today’s game will be televised on Channel 2 at 12:30 p.m. . . . Cotton Fitzsimmons, on the Lakers’ 47-18 rebounding advantage in Game 1: “They shot 66%, so you can’t rebound the ball when it’s going through the net all the time.”