Spur Executive Courts Disaster

The San Antonio Spurs almost added someone else to the injured list Wednesday night--their executive vice president for business operations.

Russ Bookbinder, upset at a flagrant foul by Shaquille O’Neal on Avery Johnson under the basket, left his seat near the baseline and stepped on the court to have words with the Laker center. O’Neal said something back, then teammate Sean Rooks stepped in for support.

“He’s like, ‘I work here,’ ” Rooks said. “I said, ‘So?’ ”

Johnson got up slowly, but stayed in the game. Bookbinder returned to his seat soon after, then later begged off all questions about the third-quarter incident, trying to diffuse the situation.

“He almost got knocked out, too,” O’Neal said of Bookbinder. “I was about to show him my one-two combo.”

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Nick Van Exel had six turnovers against the Spurs, but only after a streak of 106 minutes without a miscue, a run that started in the fourth quarter against Toronto and continued through games against Atlanta and Houston and into the first quarter Wednesday. The night before, he went 54 minutes without a turnover, a Laker single-game record since records started being kept in that category in 1977-78.