LAKER-SPUR SERIES NOTES

It wasn’t Tim Duncan who led the Spurs in scoring in the first round, and it wasn’t David Robinson. It was little Avery Johnson, the point guard everybody always dares to shoot.

If everyone else is surprised, the Laker point guards, Derek Fisher and Derek Harper, aren’t.

Said Fisher: “Avery’s in a position where I’m trying to be him, more than he’s trying to be me. Avery’s tough. He has quickness and speed but he plays the game under control and really smart so you really don’t get a lot of opportunities to take advantage of mistakes that he makes . . .

“I know my rookie season and also last year, that was just understood, that was what we were going to do, drop off Avery, but now you kind of have to think about it before making that decision.

“It’s a situation where you have to choose whose shots to give up. You don’t want to give up shots to Mario Elie, you don’t want to give up shots to Sean Elliott so that leaves Avery. I don’t think they do it because they don’t think he can play. They do it because they think that’s the best chance they have of winning.

“I think he is the key. A lot of people focus on Duncan and Robinson and Elliott and Mario’s toughness and what he’s brought to the team but I believe, so goes Avery, so goes the team.”

Said Harper: “Avery just has a will to be successful as a basketball player. I think any time you find one of those guys who are sort of in the Darrell Armstrong category, where you’ve been forced to fall and get back up--he’s a warrior is what he is because he’s found a way to survive against a lot of odds.

“I have a lot of respect for him. I know him very well. If I had to pick a guy in the league to point to for my son to sort of follow, it would be Avery . . .

“I thought he would make it, myself, because he was one of the few guys who understood how to run a basketball team. He wasn’t a guy who could score and do all the things he’s doing now, I didn’t see that, but I saw a guy who understood the game.

“He’s a born leader. As little as he is, I guarantee you, he’s the leader of their basketball team, if you ask David or if you ask all of their guys.

“Without a doubt, he’s the key, because we’re going to be helping off of him and forcing him to take the open shots and all of that stuff. Avery’s probably the key to all of their series.”