With Few Open Shots, Spurs Have No Shot to Win

Mark Twain told a story about a guy who becomes sick with lumbago, whatever that is. The doctor tells him he’ll recover if he stops drinking, smoking and overeating. So the guy cleans up his act and gets better.

The guy runs into a friend who also complains of lumbago and tells him to stop drinking, smoking and overeating.

The friend replies that he has never done any of those things.

So the first guy says, “Well, then you’re sunk.”

The Spurs are like the friend. They have no bad habits they can stop to get well. They are a sinking ship with no cargo to throw overboard.

The Lakers had plenty of bad habits, fixed them before the playoffs began and are the picture of health.

What a performance. Each is better than the one before.

As well as the Lakers shot, I thought they won this game on defense. They overplayed the San Antonio guards and forced them away from Tim Duncan and the screens that gave the Lakers trouble in Game 2.

The Lakers were willing to live with David Robinson shooting jump shots, figuring he couldn’t keep it up for 48 minutes. And, of course, they were correct.

Something that has been true in the NBA for a long time was never more obvious: If you have players who must be double-teamed and those players are willing to pass, you’ll get open shots. Then it is a matter of making the shots. Derek Fisher, Brian Shaw, et. al. haven’t missed much.

The irony is that this has been a specialty of the Spurs’ guards for years. Their job is to protect Duncan and Robinson when those players are double-teamed by making shots.

That’s why the Laker defensive strategy is so brilliant: They are guarding Duncan and Robinson one-on-one and forcing the perimeter guys to rush their shots.

When Danny Ferry, Terry Porter and the rest rush, they miss.

The only way the Spurs can beat the Lakers is for everyone to get hot. And there is no way that will happen when the perimeter players are being guarded closely.

Why don’t the Spurs use the same strategy? The answer is that O’Neal and Bryant aren’t human, at least not in this series.

O’Neal and Bryant consistently beat the double-teams and the rest of the Lakers eventually contribute with wide-open shots.

Just ask Shaw. He was able to step into those two three-point baskets from the top of the key late in the second quarter like they were practice drills.

Can San Antonio prolong the series beyond Game 4 on Sunday? Maybe if O’Neal had foolishly been in the game with the Lakers leading handily with eight minutes to play and sprained his ankle.

It would have had to be a very bad sprain.