They Have Plenty Left in Reserve

They call themselves “the Bum Rush Crew.” They are San Antonio’s bench players who have given the Spurs an edge in winning five of their first six playoff games.

Veteran Jerome Kersey provides toughness and hustle. Jaren Jackson adds outside shooting. Antonio Daniels chips in with speed and athleticism. Will Perdue helps out with defense and rebounding, and Malik Rose, who came up with the nickname for the Spurs’ reserves, is not afraid to do the little things to help San Antonio win.

“We just try to go in and change the groove of the game,” said Kersey, a former Laker who is hoping that his 15th season will bring him his first NBA championship.

“We want to give our starters some rest and if we play well, we know that we’ll probably get a few more minutes out there.”

San Antonio had the more productive bench in taking a 2-0 lead over the Lakers and the Spurs hope for more of the same this weekend. Rose, who at 6 feet 6 has had to guard Laker center Shaquille O’Neal, said he expects things to get rougher in the Great Western Forum. Teammate Perdue even told Rose to get an extra life insurance policy and to have a facemask ready, just in case.

“Everyone knows what kind of player [O’Neal] is and how tough he is down [inside] and how strong and big he is,” Rose said. “I just try and make him work for everything he gets. I try to get low on him and push him off the block as far as I can. The goal is for him to shoot over me, which isn’t too hard.”

What has helped Rose and Perdue, who also has guarded O’Neal, is that they don’t have to worry about foul trouble. The Spurs would rather have O’Neal shoot free throws than open dunks.

“It’s the playoffs . . . and they are letting us play,” Rose said. “I play him as hard as I can straight-up, but he’s gonna get around me [with spins for dunks]. It does help that I can waste a foul on him. . . . I don’t want to be on [an O’Neal dunking] poster.”

*

Point guard Avery Johnson does not read much into the Spurs’ not having defeated the Lakers at the Forum since April 4, 1997.

“I don’t think it’s a mental block,” he said. “What we did last year is last year . . . we’re a different team now. This year, we’ve had some terrific wins on the road.”

Johnson, who is shooting 55.7% in the playoffs, also said that neither he nor his teammates are worried about how the Lakers feel after losing two close games at San Antonio.

“We don’t beat ourselves,” he said. “No matter what, we know we won both games and we realize that we have an opportunity to do something good here in L.A. now. . . . When this series is over, it will be ‘This team won and this team lost.’ It won’t be about who gave what to whom.”

*

Tim Duncan, who scored the winning basket against a single defender in Game 2, expects the Lakers to give him more looks today.

“They are going to change something, I just don’t know what it will be,” said Duncan, who is averaging 20.2 points and 9.7 rebounds in the playoffs. “I don’t know if they will [double-team] at the beginning but I know eventually it will come.”