SPUR NOTES

Going to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4 this weekend doesn’t exactly put shivers into the San Antonio Spurs.

“The Forum is a real nice place to play; a lot of players like playing there,” forward Sean Elliott said. “There’s all that atmosphere and tradition.”

Elliott said that unlike in other NBA arenas--namely Utah’s Delta Center--the fans at the Forum are classy and smart.

“They are really good fans, they are up to date on the game, they are a little bit classier than the average fan,” Elliott said. “The one thing that never happens to you in the Forum is that you never get heckled.”

Which, of course, raises the obvious question:

Is this a good thing? Does it help the Lakers that their fans are known for never heckling?

The Lakers were 18-7 at home this year, 13-12 on the road, so the Forum definitely offers an advantage.

But their three Western Conference opponents play in places that are definitely tougher, and it shows. The Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers were 22-3 at home, and the Spurs, even as the giant Alamodome swallows up some of the noise, were 21-4 at home.

The Lakers defeated the Spurs, 106-94, in their only Forum meeting this year. The Spurs have not won at the Forum since April 4, 1997.

And remember, it was at the Forum in 1986 when the Lakers handed the Spurs their worst playoff loss in history, a 135-88 beating.

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Do stars get breaks from the referees? Depends on whom you talk to.

“Malik [Rose] and I had breakfast,” said the Spurs’ Will Perdue before Wednesday’s game. “And we were talking about how it was obvious he was very upset after the game and we’ll see what kind of effect that has on the outcome of tonight’s game, as far as the refereeing, the physicality of the game itself. “I remember one year [1993], we were playing New York in the playoffs and we were down, 0-2 and Michael [Jordan] has a little press conference and he says, ‘The hand-checking will stop.’ And from that point on, things kinda changed.”

The Bulls rallied from a 0-2 deficit to beat the Knicks, 4-2 in the Eastern finals, although reporters who covered that series don’t remember the “press conference.” But you get the idea.