It’s All About Attitude This Time

Chalk this one up--actually, break out the extra chalk and give this whole series--to the Laker attitude.

If the old “Wall Street” motto was “greed is good,” then the new Laker mantra is “cocky is cool.”

It prevailed again in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals and helped the Lakers to a 93-87 victory to clinch the series.

They feel that they can get back into any game, regardless of the score or situation--and deep inside they clearly believe the San Antonio Spurs can’t stand up to the pressure.

The Spurs waited a year to erase the tag that they had no heart, only to compete in each and every game this series--and earn the new label of chokers.

Meanwhile, the Lakers have an attitude that juts out in the air like Rick Fox’s jaw.

I’ve always said that Phil Jackson wears his arrogance well, that somehow it’s becoming on him. It suits the Lakers too. They shake off deficits, breeze through pressure, then lean on the game’s most clutch player, Bryant.

“We definitely have a swagger about ourself, a little bit more confidence about ourself,” said Bryant, who scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers talked a lot about their confidence after their victory in Game 4, when they overcame a 10-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter.

“When you win championships you have egos, that you’re not going to lose regardless of the score,” Robert Horry said. “I think that helps us out, because a lot of times, we’re down, we’ll be like [forget] it, we’re just down. All we’ve got to do is go out and play D, we’re going to win this thing. We just have confidence.”

So the Lakers went in the tank again, holding their breath and staying submerged while the fans worried and wondered when they were coming up for air.

They pretty much started underwater with a 15-point first quarter. The Lakers have had at least one sub-20 point quarter in every game, but this time there was a rare quarter in which Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal scored only two points apiece.

The Lakers were down long enough to fall behind by 13 points in the second quarter.

They scored the last six points of the quarter to make the deficit a respectable six points at halftime. Then, two minutes into the third quarter, it started again. The Spurs missed six straight shots and committed two turnovers and bango, the Lakers had the lead.

But even in their comeback the Lakers played more like Cool Hand Luke than Desperate Dan. A bad pass by Tim Duncan bounced past Tony Parker and into the backcourt. Bryant chased after it, but didn’t give it the all-out effort and settled for possession instead of a chance for a fastbreak. (The Lakers wound up scoring on a basket by O’Neal.)

Spur Coach Gregg Popovich had an air of desperation about him. He left Duncan in the game for more than two minutes even though Duncan got his third foul with 3:20 to go in the third quarter.

Finally, with 10 seconds left in the third, Bryant decided that it was close enough to the fourth quarter to do his thing. He went to work and scored on a jumper in the lane that dropped through with 7.3 seconds left.

The Lakers had the lead. Just as they expected.

Fox said the team’s composure comes from “Experience in these situations. A calmness. A poise that comes with having done this before, especially with having success against [the Spurs], believing that it’s just a matter of time.”

The unsaid continuation of that quote is: “ ... before the Spurs choke.”

Every team in the NBA gives up big leads, but most good ones can at least recover and close out a game. Few champions (the Spurs are the Midwest Division champions, remember?) get as tight in crunch time as this group.

Did you see the shot chart for the Spurs’ fourth quarter in Game 4? There were so many white circles indicating misses it looked like someone had dumped the contents of a hole-puncher on the newspaper.

This time the Spurs hung in there. For most of the fourth quarter, the only thing small about them was their lineup, which featured a backcourt of the 6-foot-2 Parker and 6-4 Antonio Daniels.

They matched the Lakers point for point--up to a point.

With the score tied, 83-83, Bryant scored. O’Neal blocked a Duncan shot in the lane, but curiously shot a weak fallaway jumper at the other end, with Duncan guarding him and burdened with five fouls.

Duncan missed, Brian Shaw grabbed the loose ball and fed Fox for a fastbreak layup to give the Lakers a four-point lead.

The Spurs’ last real shot at the series was a three-point attempt by Parker. It came up short.

Then Horry made a three-pointer from his new favorite spot, the right corner and the Spurs were done, down seven with 56.2 seconds left.

“Another frustrating defeat at the hands of the Lakers,” Spur forward Malik Rose said.

“We know what it takes to win games,” O’Neal said. “Even though we played ugly, we just had to grind our teeth and just play a little bit harder, collect our poise and play a little bit harder.”

It’s fitting that Horry made the two biggest shots to close out the first two series. He’s the guy who never looks worried at all, who seems so carefree until the pressure is at its highest.

Sound like any team you know?

“We expect to win every game,” Bryant said. “The game is close in the fourth quarter, we expect to win. We play to win.

“Some teams play to lose.”

Hmm, sound like any other team you know?

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