ADMIRABLE ADMIRAL

There goes his neighborhood.

This may still be Mr. David Robinson’s town, but these days, his Spurs are more like a joint venture with Mr. Tim Duncan, the answer to his prayers and, at the same time, proof that you have to be careful what you wish for.

The Spurs are much better these days, with a great defense and a 2-0 lead on the Lakers in their series that resumes Saturday at the Great Western Forum.

On the other hand, Robinson’s numbers are worse. His value to the team may not have decreased a whit, but tell it to him when the Spurs lose and someone on “SportsCenter” notes Shaquille O’Neal outscored him, 30-10.

Being an important guy on a winning program is what it’s supposed to be about, but after you’ve been “the guy” all your career?

“I mean, it’s been an adjustment,” Robinson says. “Before, I was used to getting the ball as much as I wanted and doing pretty much whatever I wanted to.”

Before, he won an MVP trophy, a rookie-of-the-year award, a scoring title, a rebounding title, two shot-blocking titles, was defensive player of the year once and all-NBA first team four times.

Before, he had a 25.5-point scoring average and a 53% shooting percentage.

Then Duncan showed up last season, the No. 1 pick they’d lucked into after going 20-62 in 1996-97 when Robinson sat out almost the whole season because of a foot injury.

Suddenly everything was different. As Houston’s Charles Barkley said after playing against Duncan in one exhibition, “I have seen the future and it wears No. 21.”

Where Robinson was an OK post player, Duncan was as refined as any rookie big man entering the NBA. Robinson’s average dipped to 22 last season, 19 in the playoffs and was 16 this season, while Duncan went 21-21-22.

However, just because it was an adjustment didn’t mean Robinson was incapable of making it.

“If he was a jerk, if he had no character, if he wasn’t smart enough to know it’s for the good of the team, I’d have all kinds of problems,” Coach Gregg Popovich said.

“If he said, ‘Wait a minute, I’m not getting my shots, I’m not doing this, I’m not doing that’--he doesn’t give a damn. He’s all about winning. He understands that Duncan is a hell of an offensive threat. It frees David up to put more energy into rebounding, defense, blocked shots, and he’s our best defender. He takes pride in being the base of that.

“So he knows Tim is good for him. Tim knows Dave is good for him. I’ve spent not a waking moment in two seasons, trying to manipulate that situation or hope that it goes well. . . .

“Honest to God, I never did [talk to Robinson]. I never did. He never came to me and said, ‘Pop, why didn’t you call my number? What’s the deal? What’s going on here?’

“Nothing. Ever. He just totally, instantaneously adjusted because he knew it was best. I never sat him down, and said, ‘Now, David, we’re going to go to this guy.’ We just did it. It was obvious to everybody what the deal was and he understood it.”

Actually, the way Robinson remembers it . . .

“Well,” he says grinning, “we talked about it a little bit. But you know the thing is, you got a guy like Tim, you’ve got to use his talents. I mean, it’s not about ego here. It’s about what the guy can do and he’s great on the block. He’s great with those hooks. So Pop’s used him in those situations and that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that.”

The Lakers do, though.

Duncan and Robinson complement each other seamlessly. Duncan is good in the post. Robinson can play on the wing, shoot over big men, or lure them out and speed past them as he did O’Neal at the end of Game 2.

Both are good defenders. Neither is big enough to stand up to Shaq, man to man, but together, with a lot of help, they can hold him to 37 points in two games and 43% shooting.

Of course, David and Tim had to get some things straight first, and it wasn’t whether the roses along the driveway were in or out, as in their shaving cream commercial.

Christian and Lions: Robinson in the NBA

NBA players have never known what to make of Robinson, who was so gifted, so nice, so different and such a bust in the playoffs.

Actually, it shouldn’t have been so surprising. As big as he was, and as strong, with a physique as cut, Robinson weighs only about 250 pounds. He has a 32-inch waist and slender legs. When the postseason games turned rough, he was out of his element, the more so because the Spurs couldn’t find a bruiser to watch his back. The closest they came was Dennis Rodman, who blew them up twice in the playoffs, leaving them back at Square 1.

There is no more reviled a figure than the best player on a disappointing team. Had Robinson been luckier, he might have gone to a decent team with four good offensive players, as Bill Russell did in 1956, and kicked off a dynasty.

Indeed, Robinson looks like a latter-day version of Russell, lacking only, perhaps, Russell’s grim ferocity. But Robinson came to a Spur team that had won 21 games and was being built around him, and not too quickly, at that.

Only one player, Sean Elliott, remains from Robinson’s first team--and he was traded and reacquired. Robinson has played for five coaches plus two interim guys.

As disappointments mounted, skepticism set in among Robinson’s peers. He was too religious, too much the Naval Academy graduate in a subculture that is, let’s face it, not dominated by officers and gentlemen.

Even among the players closest to him, who knew his work habits and measured his desire, there were questions.

“Athletic ability, he’s the best I’ve ever seen or ever played with,” Doc Rivers, said after playing with Robinson in the 1994-95 season.

“He’s more athletically gifted than Dominique [Wilkins]. Can run faster than most guards. Can jump higher than about anybody in the league. He has a God’s-gift body. I think the only thing he doesn’t have yet is an understanding for the game and a passion for the game.

“He was asked to play basketball. In high school, the coach asked him to come out his junior year and he actually said no. The guy said, why don’t you give it a try? He tried out and made it and then the best player got hurt and that was the only reason he played.

“If you asked him if he wanted to go out and play basketball or play with his computer, he’d have said, play with his computer.”

In 1994, Robinson won a scoring title but Rodman got into it with Utah’s John Stockton, got suspended for a key home loss and the Spurs were upset in the opening round.

In 1995, they posted the NBA’s best record, Robinson won his MVP and Sports Illustrated put him on its cover, wearing a halo. That spring, Rodman got into it with Coach Bob Hill, Hakeem Olajuwon torched Robinson and the Rockets upset them in the West finals.

They lasted two rounds in 1996 and didn’t make the playoffs when Robinson was hurt in 1997. Duncan arrived in 1998, signaling a new start, if, sometimes, a slow one.

Goodbye AOL, Hello NBA

There can be no doubt it was hard for Robinson to surrender his franchise-player status, since he, one of the NBA’s best and most open talkers, acknowledged it.

Or as he said during Duncan’s first camp:

“Shoot, he’s a 7-footer, I’m a 7-footer. When we go out there to compete against one another, there’s going to be tension. I want to be the best player. He thinks he’s the best player.”

Nevertheless, they worked it out. The problem was everything else. The Spurs didn’t have enough shooters to keep defenses from swarming all over their big men. There was still that “soft” label.

They lasted two rounds last spring, then geared up over the off-season when Popovich brought in tough guys Mario Elie and Jerome Kersey.

They started this season 6-8, losing twice to the Lakers, once in the Alamodome. Robinson’s numbers were down amid speculation that his back was bothering him, or his knee. He seemed to favor one leg when he ran.

Then the trade speculation started, deemed unthinkable in San Antonio and inevitable everywhere else, since the Spurs were capped and Robinson was their one marketable commodity.

“Oh yeah, people talked about it a lot, no question about it,” he says. “And to me, I’m just like, ‘Hey, you know, it’s basketball, it’s the NBA. They’ve talked about moving everybody, so. . . .’

“I was fortunate enough that it was 10 years before they started talking about moving me. But I told my wife, ‘Shoot, if we’ve got to move, we’ve got to move.’ This league is like that.

“But the one good thing about being in trade rumors is, someone obviously thinks you can play, even if your guys at home don’t think you can play.”

At the trade deadline, Portland reportedly offered Rasheed Wallace for Robinson, but by then the Spurs were moving--they finished the season on a 31-5 run--and the subject was closed, perhaps never to reopen.

“Dave is so cool, man,” Elie says now. “David’s just a laid-back guy. . . .

“Dave wants it. Dave is starting to get the love for the game again. I think early in the year, he was just coasting, but now he feels like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance to do something special here.’

“And he’s feeling good. Man, he’s talking. Before, Dave used to be home on his computer. Now he’s home watching games.

“Me and Avery [Johnson] always get on him about being on the computer--[we say] watch some games, do a little scouting sometimes. Now Dave’s coming in the locker room--’Yeah, Mario, you see the game last night?’

“Good, good. Focus on what you’ve got to do.”

Says Johnson, who was a groomsman at Robinson’s wedding, “It’s just a different David, period. Naturally he’s not scoring and he doesn’t have the big gaudy numbers like he used to, but this David Robinson hasn’t backed down from anybody all year. This David Robinson makes more aggressive moves to the basket. Like I’ve been saying all along, I like this David Robinson this year.

“In the last six weeks, I’ve never seen him play against [Arvydas] Sabonis and some of the other guys like he’s played, as hard, with the type of intensity.”

Good news for Robinson and the Spurs. Not so good for Shaq and the Lakers.

We’re looking at an early installment of the rivalry of the new millennium and right now, the Lakers don’t like the way it’s going.

NBA PLAYOFFS

LAKERS vs. SAN ANTONIO: 2:30 p.m., at Forum, Channel 4. Spurs lead series, 2-0.

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ELSEWHERE

PORTLAND-UTAH EVEN: The Trail Blazers held off the Jazz, 84-81, to square their series at one game each. Page 5

KNICKS IN COMMAND: Latrell Sprewell scored 31 points as Knicks beat the Hawks, 77-70, for a 2-0 lead in series. Page 5

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

New Role

David Robinson has assumed a lesser role since the San Antonio Spurs drafted Tim Duncan. This season it has showed statistically. Robinson’s career average before Duncan arrived compared to the last two seasons:

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Career ‘97-’98 ‘98-’99 Points 21.3 21.6 15.8 Rebounds 10.3 10.6 10.0 Shots/Game 13.3 14.6 10.8 Free Throws/Game 7.6 9.0 7.4

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