They’re Awfully Wobbly

Like a heavyweight boxer staggered early in a fight, the San Antonio Spurs will try to avoid getting knocked out by the Lakers today in Game 4.

“We’re still in a standing eight-count right now,” veteran guard Terry Porter said. “It hurt us a lot not to have D.A. [Derek Anderson] healthy at the start, but Kobe [Bryant] has been playing unbelievable and so has Shaq [O’Neal]. . . . But if you look at the two main two guys for both teams, we haven’t had [Tim Duncan and David Robinson] playing well at the same time while that has not been the case for them.”

It may seem like weeks ago to the Spurs, but it has been only nine days since many people believed they were the league’s best team. Not any more. Not after losing three in a row to the Lakers, including a 39-point loss Friday night.

“We were dazed in that fourth quarter,” backup guard Steve Kerr said. “We have to somehow get back our identity. That’s what is tough in the playoffs when the momentum gets going against you. When a team is playing well and kicking your butt, it is tough to get back up, but you have to. You have to try and get one win, then you never know what might happen.”

Kerr has seen such a dramatic change before. In the 1996 Eastern Conference finals, he played with the Chicago Bulls when they faced the Orlando Magic, who had lost only one game over the first two rounds of the playoffs.

“They had Shaq and Penny [Hardaway],” Kerr said. “Everyone had billed it as the Clash of the Titans and we swept them. It happens in the playoffs, but usually by the conference finals, both teams are on a roll. Sometimes the momentum gets going and it is tough to reverse it.”

But do the Spurs really believe they have a chance of preventing a sweep?

“We still feel like we can still win it, that is how we are approaching [today’s game],” shooting guard Anderson said. “We need to get our confidence back up. If we can get one and take it back to San Antonio, that’s our goal.”

It would be one thing if all the Spurs had to worry about was slowing Bryant and O’Neal, but Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Robert Horry and Brian Shaw have also had their way in the series.

“They have two superstars, but their other guys have killed us,” Robinson said.

Over the first three games, Fisher has been on a tear in making a series-high nine three-point baskets in 13 attempts. That has impressed veteran point guard Avery Johnson.

“Any time you get good play at that spot, you have a chance to win,” Johnson said. “Look at the past NBA champions. Perimeter play is so key. You have to have players to go with someone inside.

“Derek has confidence and that happens when you shoot 35% [on three-point attempts most of your career] and then the ball starts going in 50% of the time, it will tend to raise your confidence.”