Duncan Makes Little Noise

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan finished with two votes for the NBA’s All-Interview team, but after his brief session with reporters following Friday night’s Game 3 at Staples Center, maybe there should be a recount.

But then again, who can blame Duncan for not having much to say after he made three of 14 field goals and finished with nine points in the Lakers’ 111-72 laugher over the Spurs?

“Offensively, I couldn’t get it going tonight,” said Duncan, who shot 55.6% and averaged 34 points along with 14.5 rebounds over first two games of the best-of-seven series.

Because the Spurs run a major chunk of their offense through Duncan, not having their main man knocking down shots was a serious problem. Especially against the streaking Lakers.

Duncan missed his first three shots, and after picking up two fouls, he had to sit out the final three minutes of the first quarter. When he returned in the second, Duncan had his best shooting quarter of the game but he still missed three of five shots.

“Tim didn’t touch the ball for a long period of time because he got in foul trouble,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “In the third quarter, things started going awry with turnovers and missed shots. Also we didn’t allow him to get the offensive rebounds and second chances, which is a big part of his game.”

Duncan basically had the same open looks he had when he ripped through the Laker defense in Games 1 and 2. But Friday night, his shots just wouldn’t fall and every time he missed, the Spurs’ title hopes seem to drift further away.

“Tim is our primary offensive weapon and that’s no secret to anyone,” San Antonio guard Antonio Daniels said. “He’s our first option and his shots just didn’t go tonight. . . . Anybody will get frustrated when your shots are not going in and Tim’s human like everyone else. He is not going to shoot the ball well every night.”

Another Spur who had a miserable shooting game was Derek Anderson, who returned to the lineup after sitting out six playoff games because of a right shoulder separation. Anderson had his first shot blocked by the Lakers’ Rick Fox and his game went downhill from there. He finished with two points on 0-for-8 shooting.

“Everything felt good, even my shot felt good but it just didn’t go down,” Anderson said. “But that will not ever happen again. . . . I was out for three weeks.”

What Anderson wasn’t ready for was the Lakers’ speed on defense.

“I was shocked that they recovered so well,” he said. “I thought they usually didn’t do that because they had [Shaquille O’Neal] clogging up the middle. But they really did a good job of recovering when it looked like we had open looks.”