Late Defense Was Hard to Believe

Thanks, they needed that.

Spur Coach Gregg Popovich was noncommittal about the Lakers’ leaving Tim Duncan one on one with J.R. Reid when Duncan made the shot that won Game 2--”That’s not for me to say”--but guard Avery Johnson, who realized the Lakers had a foul to give, even if the Laker players didn’t, said he couldn’t believe it.

“They didn’t foul Mario [Elie, who passed the ball to Duncan] and I thought, ‘Wow,’ ” Johnson said. “They didn’t foul Tim and I thought, ‘Wow, wow!’ I just knew Tim was going to get bladed.”

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Sean Elliott, on guarding Kobe Bryant during his 28-point game: “I was telling Steve Kerr after the game, I can’t remember a time when I’ve been more tired after a game, and during the game, actually. I was just gassed. My fuel tank was on empty half the time, guarding him, chasing him around screens.”

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Why would a coach take a 6-foot-6 player like Malik Rose and put him on someone the size of Shaquille O’Neal?

“If somebody has got a heart,” Popovich said. “You’ve got guys who have heart and have a pretty good feel for how to guard in the post.”

Rose is a third-year man who was drafted by Charlotte, joined the Spurs last season as a free agent and made a big jump this season, although he still needs to improve his shooting. On the plus side, he works at it.

“As soon as he was let go by Charlotte, we jumped on him quickly because we liked his energy, we liked his toughness, we liked his potential,” Popovich said. “But we found out he had even more of all of that than we thought initially.

“He’s a strong kid. He’s really long and he has a nice big butt on him so he’s got a good base. He just jumps out of the gym. He’s our mini-Barkley.”

If the Lakers didn’t already know, they found out about it in Game 2.

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Is basketball getting rougher, especially in the pivot?

Could be. For sure, it’s getting bigger.

“A perfect example, you look at a team like us,” the Spurs’ Will Perdue said. “I mean, we’ve got three 7-footers.

“Back in the old days, you had a 7-footer and the next guy was your forward who was 6-10. You had a guy coming off the bench who played two positions who maybe was 6-10, 6-9. When you’ve got three 7-footers ready to go at one game, that’s going to make it difficult for anybody.”

Perdue sat out 13 games this season, with an ankle sprain and his nose broken twice--Nos. 4 and 5 of his career--and averaged only 2.4 points in the 37 he played.

He averaged half a point in the first round against Minnesota, before his big effort, six points and nine rebounds, in Game 1.

“It just all came together for him, really, in the first game of this series,” Popovich said. “That was the first time he’s given us what he gave us all of last year. And we were all thrilled because it was something he did on a consistent basis and it really made us a good team last year. Before this series, we hadn’t had that. So I’m really anxious to see if he feels that healthy that he can continue to rebound and run and do those things.”