No Surprise That Duncan, O’Neal Keys to Success

There are times when these Western Conference semifinals come to a standstill, when the rest of the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs fade into the background and it’s only Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal.

They don’t always guard each other, but when they do it’s as if time stops. The game is back to its most basic element, one on one. The newly anointed most valuable player against the league’s most desirable player. A classic matchup of big men. Like baseball doubleheaders, you just don’t see much of those anymore.

Even on the off days, everything focuses on Duncan and O’Neal. Can Duncan handle the multitude of responsibilities tossed on him? How much will O’Neal’s assortment of injuries allow him to impact this series?

Although O’Neal is hobbling, he can lean on the ultimate crutch in Kobe Bryant. Duncan doesn’t have that, and so far this series he appears to be missing that one extra gear the superstars find in crunch time.

The Spurs have been outplayed in the fourth quarter of all three games, and it has cost them two defeats. That has to come as a reflection of Duncan, because he’s their guy.

Duncan had only two turnovers in Game 3 Friday night, but they both came in the fourth quarter.

It’s not that Duncan isn’t mentally tough; remember he’s doing all of this fewer than two weeks after his father’s death.

Maybe the Spurs are forced to ask too much of Duncan: Score against his man, create shot opportunities for his teammates and shut down the middle on defense.

He’s averaging 27 points, 16.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.3 blocks. But he’s shooting only 37%. He has taken one fourth of the team’s shots.

“My looks are always contested, but I’ve gotten into the middle and had some looks,” Duncan said. “It’s about knocking them out. We’ve got to finish shots. I’m probably more guilty than anybody of doing that.”

As far as his quarterbacking responsibilities, “It puts a lot of pressure, but honestly, it’s kind of on me to get people shots. We have to move the ball, I have to be unselfish enough to move the ball out and execute our pick-and-rolls.”

The Lakers don’t like to double-team, but they often have to when Robert Horry or Samaki Walker guard Duncan. Duncan has plenty of practice going against two or three men over the course of the season, but the Lakers do it a little differently.

“They’re not really double-teaming until the last second, but they’re there all the time,” Duncan said. “I’ve got to do a better job of finding the shooters, moving the ball, executing our offense.”

The execution doesn’t come very easily for a team that has three players in its starting lineup who weren’t with them last season: Bruce Bowen, Tony Parker and Steve Smith.

“It’s something that Tim has to deal with,” Spur Coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s a decision-making process down there. The coordination between inside and outside, we’re trying to get better at it all the time.

“Timmy’s going through the process of, ‘Am I going to do this myself or am I going to trust my teammates?’ There’s always a little bit of both involved. Shaq’s had a lot of time with those guys to figure it out.”

Popovich has repeatedly praised O’Neal’s floor sense. O’Neal is doing a better job than ever of reading defenses and finding his teammates. It helps that he often has four players on the court with him who have been with the Lakers since 1997.

That’s about the only edge O’Neal has right now. His touch is off because of the stitches in his right index finger that he cut in Game 1. His lateral movement and jumping are hampered because of the arthritic big toe on his right foot and his sprained ankles.

So he’s just kind of there, occupying space.

He actually has more trouble against some smaller, quicker players than he does against Duncan.

“He’s a great player,” O’Neal said. “But I’m a big body, he really can’t bang me around. He really is going to have to shoot the jumper over me. When the jumper’s falling, he’ll probably have a good night. But I just try to stay in his way. No guy in this league can really be stopped one on one. I just try to contain him.”

Even in his limited state, O’Neal produced 22 points and 15 rebounds in Game 3. Not enough to satisfy him.

“That’s against my religion, to get 22 and 15,” he said.

Most teams would love to get that from their center.

“I don’t play for most teams,” O’Neal said.

Which is their problem, really. Even now, he still gives the Lakers at worst an even shot against Duncan, canceling out the Spurs’ best player.

“I’m sure he wishes he was a little bit healthier,” Popovich said. “But he’s still a monster.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com