Lakers Have Big Problem : Pro basketball: Robinson takes advantage of mismatch and leads Spurs to a 103-87 victory.

Maybe there will be another time, before David Robinson wins his third most valuable player trophy, when the Lakers can come down here and pop the Spurs’ bubble the way they used to.

For the moment, forget it.

The Spurs eased past the Lakers Wednesday night, running up a 20-point lead and winning, 103-87, behind Robinson, who had 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

This might not have been an even match if the Lakers had had a week to prepare, but after playing Tuesday, they were an hors d’oeuvre, served up to the Spurs on a platter.

Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy looked at his new press, saw the Spurs were running through it without slowing down and withdrew it for the night.

Slugging it out with the Spurs didn’t work, either.

“They were just better than we were tonight,” Dunleavy said.

It isn’t hard to count the ways, or to tell where to start.

At center, the Spurs had the 7-1 Robinson.

At center, the Lakers had 6-9 Sam Perkins.

With no one his own size to play, Robinson swallowed Perkins’ game almost whole. Perkins scored two field goals, one while Robinson was in the game.

“There’s no question we were getting hurt by the fact that they could play Robinson on Sam,” Dunleavy said. “When we beat them at the Forum (Nov. 22), we had Vlade (Divac) and Sam. One of the two had to be guarded by a smaller man.

“Sam’s a power forward. He’s not a center.”

Robinson is all center, moving past Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing into a niche of his own, challenging Michael Jordan for his first MVP.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of him winning that unless we win 50 games or better,” Spur Coach Larry Brown said. “It’s almost like when Magic (Johnson) was playing. The MVP race would come down to the end and you’d look at it and the same guy would be winning 60 games every year--it’s Magic. Michael is going to be on a team that wins 60 games.”

If Robinson is a piece of marble, Brown is a chisel.

The result may be a masterpiece but not without friction.

“After he played that game against the Knicks (outscoring Ewing, 31-17, as the Spurs ended the Knicks’ home unbeaten streak), he hasn’t played one like that since,” Brown said. “But I don’t think anyone ever had one like that.

“How many times do you hear people ask, ‘How great is this guy? Can he be the best in the game?’ I get asked that all the time. If I didn’t do everything I can to help David, I wouldn’t be doing my job.”

Brown can be sharp, too, as after the loss to the Lakers at the Forum, when Robinson traveled, trying to drive from the wing in the game’s crucial play.

Brown said he should have been in the low post, adding: “The guy doesn’t have a clue.”

Said Robinson Wednesday: “There was a time when we realized we just didn’t understand each other. I didn’t appreciate when he said I didn’t have a clue. I told him, ‘I’m not a dumb person.’

“Antoine Carr came in here and helped me with my post moves and all of a sudden they’re 100% better. He (Brown) has been working with me for two years. Maybe he was just putting it in a way I didn’t understand.”

The Spurs led, 53-45 at the half, 76-64 after three quarters, 97-77 with 3:58 left.

After recent routs, Dunleavy criticized his team but Wednesday he thought the effort was OK. The Lakers had to play hard to avoid being embarrassed.

They flew home, 1-1 on the trip, an acceptable grade in their present circumstance.

The Spurs will fly to Golden State on their newly chartered plane today. After Robinson wrote an open letter criticizing owner Red McCombs for making them fly commercially, Spur management snapped to attention.

Of course, the Spurs now must win Friday at Golden State to show the charter helps.

The Lakers play Denver in the Forum Friday.

They have to win that one, too.

Laker Notes

Mike Dunleavy says he hopes the Lakers can get the Forum crowd behind them because it “can help us. They may look at it as we don’t deserve the help. But early in the year, I thought there were a lot of games when they really picked us up from behind.” The Lakers were booed at the Forum last Friday in a 114-87 loss to Indiana.

CLIPPERS: Ron Harper scores with 5.4 seconds remaining for a 104-102 victory at Indiana. C3