Spurs Deliver a Rude Awakening to Lakers

The only mistake the San Antonio Spurs made Sunday was blowing their cover.

The stealth fighters of the NBA are exposed now that 18,997 Staples Center witnesses and a national television audience saw them swipe the late-season momentum from the Lakers. While the Lakers rolled off an 11-game winning streak and started battling with the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves for the top spot in the Western Conference, the defending champion Spurs, the No. 4-seeded team, have racked up a six-game winning streak of their own.

“Hopefully we’ll just sneak in the back door and people will forget about us,” said Spur forward Tim Duncan (code name: The Quiet Storm).

No chance. Not after they handed the Lakers a 95-89 defeat.

The Lakers hoped to take their winning streak all the way into the playoffs, securing home-court advantage in the process. Now they’re back down to the No. 3 spot, a half-game behind the Kings and Timberwolves. All they’ll take from this game is a new perspective on what it will take to get through the postseason.

They got by with sloppy execution on offense recently (including three games of sub-40% shooting in a week) because they made improvements on defense. They didn’t perform at either end Sunday.

“We know that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be fine,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “Obviously, we didn’t do what we’re supposed to do.”

On offense, they didn’t move the ball. And you know where that problem starts.

On defense, they didn’t defend the pick-and-roll.

Surprisingly there was a line of Lakers volunteering to take the blame.

Karl Malone stepped forward first, then O’Neal pulled rank and said he was responsible.

“It was my fault today,” O’Neal said. “I blame it on the idiot that made up daylight savings time.”

O’Neal looked as if he really missed that lost hour of sleep. He stayed in the paint when Tony Parker came off Rasho Nestorovic screens in the first quarter, then O’Neal got burned when he tried to stay with Parker and let ancient Kevin Willis slip behind him in the second half.

The self-directed finger-pointing didn’t stop with the superstars. Rick Fox, fully aware of a stat line in which his five turnovers equaled and negated the sum total of his field goals, rebounds and assists, said: “They can’t have it today. It’s my fault.”

The only accusations coming from the Spurs came when it was time to figure out why they’ve been flying under the national radar when it comes to title talk.

“That’s your fault,” San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich told a group of reporters. “You can’t blame me for that. I don’t control the radar, you guys do.”

Actually, Popovich is the one who attended the Air Force Academy and then did his obligatory five-year stint in the military, so he should have more radar skills than a bunch of pen-pushers.

But I admit complicity in sleeping on the Spurs. I knew they played great defense (best in opponent’s shooting), knew that Duncan is one of the best players in the game. But I didn’t think they had enough firepower to take down teams such as the Lakers or Kings.

That was before Parker strafed the Lakers for 29 points Sunday, zipping by Gary Payton and Derek Fisher when he wasn’t hitting jumpers. And that was before Manu Ginobili, the Spurs’ super sixth man, personally outscored Fox and backup Devean George, 12-4.

Like the Lakers, they have moved past an injury to a key player (Duncan) and are peaking at the right time, winning eight of nine.

“We’re moving the ball real well,” said Duncan, who finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. “We’re running the offense real well, the ball’s not sticking, we’re running pick and rolls real well with Tony.”

Like the Lakers -- or any team -- they have their share of problems. Parker’s mercurial play is never enough to completely satisfy Popovich, and Malik Rose can’t be happy with Popovich’s keeping him on the bench in five full games -- including Sunday. But one of the benefits of a smaller stage is smaller drama. And this neighborhood theater production is coming along quite nicely.

“I like where we are,” Bruce Bowen said. “You don’t have to talk about us. We’re just vanilla, whereas the Lakers are Chunky Monkey or something like that.”

The Laker offense didn’t have any special flavor Sunday. Fox said he never had seen the triangle so disjointed. There was too much dribbling, too little teamwork, and too few assists (17).

The Lakers are barely above .500 (8-7) when they don’t have at least 20 assists.

“I felt like the direction and the tempo of the game was all Spur ball,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said.

Kobe Bryant played through a long afternoon, forcing the tough shots and missing the open ones. His 28 points came on nine-for-26 shooting. The days are always long when he’s going against Bowen, who defends him better than anyone in the league.

As Jackson noted Saturday, Bowen knows exactly when to grab a wrist or a piece of jersey, letting go before the officials notice.

Bryant found some success driving all the way to the hoop or penetrating and passing in the second half. And Malone got to participate, with six shots after getting only two shots in the first half. But O’Neal couldn’t convert on some inside plays, Payton didn’t get enough chances to go back at Parker and the Lakers couldn’t beat Ginobili to a single loose ball.

So the Lakers will have to come up with something more should they meet in the playoffs.

“That’s a very good team,” Fox said. “But not a team that will force us to make wholesale changes to what we do.”

The last time the Spurs defeated the Lakers it brought on a remaking of the roster, with Payton and Malone coming aboard. Now, almost a year later, the Lakers got a reminder that the championship still resides in San Antonio for now.

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. For previous Adande columns, go to latimes.com/adande.