These Spurs Know What’s Coming Next

Who were those guys, anyway?

Nine days ago, they were the San Antonio Spurs, but by Sunday when the Lakers dismembered them again to--mercifully--end the West finals in the minimum four games, they were road kill.

Happily, they were finally allowed to return home to their wives, children and fans, some of whom will remain loyal, even if the San Antonio Express-News’ Dan Cook suggested it may have been the worst local disappointment since “March of 1836, when the Alamo finally fell to Santa Anna’s men.”

Of course, that’s the sympathetic approach teams get at home. Elsewhere, people may not be as gentle, as after Game 3, which the Spurs lost by 39, when FoxSports.com’s Mike Monroe called them “heartless, gutless pigs.”

So, after Coach Gregg Popovich said he was eager to see if they could put up a fight, they came back Sunday and got blown out even earlier, trailing by 26 before halftime, turning two hours of NBC’s 2 1/2-hour telecast into garbage time that wasn’t even fit for heartless, gutless pigs.

In real life, 27 other NBA teams should be thankful they weren’t the ones tied to the tracks in front of the Lakers, in a series in which Shaquille O’Neal was Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant was even better than he’d ever been and Derek Fisher (Derek Fisher?) made 15 of 20 three-point shots.

Of course, one of those 27, the Milwaukee Bucks or Philadelphia 76ers, has the next appointment in the local Temple of Doom. As far as the Spurs are concerned, it’s good luck to whomever.

“Man,” said David Robinson, laughing, “if they play like that, there’s no way any of the Eastern teams will beat them. . . .

“If they play anywhere close to that, there’s no chance for them to get beat.”

This was a rough week for the Spurs, who won a title in 1999, lost their chance at a meaningful defense last spring when Tim Duncan suffered a knee injury, then posted the NBA’s best record this season.

Their match with the Lakers was as eagerly anticipated as anything in the NBA since Michael Jordan left. The Spurs were the early favorites and the choice of such experts as ESPN’s Jack Ramsay.

Even after losing the first two games at home, looking down the barrel of a sweep, you wouldn’t have found too many who had a bad word to say about them. . . .

Then came the worst weekend of their NBA lives.

“If you don’t come in here understanding what’s on the line, then you’re foolish. We understood what’s on the line. You get a chance to come in here and show where you are. And shoot, they showed where they were, that’s for sure. . . .

“Dismiss us, I guess. What can I say? I wish there was something else I could say but, wow!”

In real life, the Spurs figure to remain a power. Owner Peter Holt told Bloomberg News last week that Robinson, whose contract is up, will have to take a cut from his current $14.75 million. However, insiders say Robinson has known all along it was coming.

A year ago, the Spurs looked old, but then they acquired Derek Anderson and saw Antonio Davis get over the hump, making them a lot younger and friskier.

Of course, a year ago, the worst thing anyone called them was “soft.”

In real life, teams quit all the time, but it’s not a good thing to do back to back . . . in a marquee series . . . before a national press corps . . . on national TV . . . no matter how overwhelming the opposition.

Inevitably, there will be suggestions there’s now a black mark against them, a cloud hanging over them, a taint.

“That’s just psychobabble sort of stuff,” Popovich said. “We’ll concentrate on the fact that we had a very good year and it ended horribly. . . .

“We wanted more, but that’s tough; get over it, move on and figure out how to get better and deal with it. . . .

“The Lakers played that well. When they’re making shots like that--I think they looked like the best three-point shooting team in the league, and we looked like wherever they ranked. . . .

“I’m sure to some degree that we were down and not as active as we could be and the belief wasn’t totally there, but we came out and tried to give it an effort. . . . We just couldn’t get over the hump of a great team playing as well as they are. . . .

“I think they [Lakers] are even on more of a roll than we were on a couple of years ago [when the Spurs won 31 of their last 36, then went 15-2 in the playoffs]. . . .

“You’ve got to think back to when Showtime was here before, the Celtic teams when they were on rolls.”

Some years you do the rolling, some years they roll over you.

Before anyone asked a question, afterward, Popovich likened himself to Gen. George Custer, riding blithely into a mismatch at Little Bighorn.

Said Popovich: “Custer had no idea. That’s my statement. Figure it out.”

At least the Spurs got to go home. That’s an important one they have on Custer.

Two years ago, after getting swept by the Spurs, the Lakers were sliced, diced and psychoanalyzed. It couldn’t have been all that devastating; since then, they’ve won one title and now look at them.