It May Be Free, but It Isn’t Easy

Coach Gregg Popovich can afford to laugh for a day or two, part of the reason his Monday morning news conference turned into a stand-up routine on San Antonio’s free-throw shooting.

The Spurs continued their season-long allergy to the foul line, having made nine of 21 (42.9%) in Game 1 and slipping to 62.3% in the playoffs. The Lakers’ own free-throw problems -- they made 22 of 33 -- helped ensure an 88-78 Spur victory, but Popovich is looking for help before Wednesday’s game.

“We have a call in to Steve Nash to shoot all our free throws,” Popovich quipped, referring to the Dallas Maverick point guard, a 91.6% free-throw shooter during the regular season.

Popovich was only getting started.

“If one goes in, then I feel great,” he said. “I feel like we’re all on the right track. We all get excited and everything.

“Maybe we’ll take all jump shots from the free-throw line. Maybe that will work better.”

The Spurs, who finished last in the league in free-throw shooting during the regular season, managed to win NBA championships in 1999 and 2003 despite free-throw troubles, but Popovich said this was a new low.

“We weren’t real good, but now we’re way bad,” he said. “We’re a whole lot worse than we were. Trust me. A lot of high school and college coaches out here are going, ‘What are those guys doing?’

” ... We’ve tried everything. You can imagine the letters we get from people that can fix it by ‘tomorrow evening’ and all that kind of stuff. They’re great.”

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The Spurs had the day off, but point guard Tony Parker reported to the practice facility to take questions from the media and perhaps soothe the psyches of San Antonio fans concerned about the soft brace he was wearing after Game 1 to protect his left thumb.

Parker was still wearing the brace Monday, but said he would play Wednesday, despite having jammed the thumb while stealing the ball in the fourth quarter.

“I just twisted it when I got the ball, but it’s OK,” he said.

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Forward Kevin Willis, in his 20th season, was an afterthought in the Spurs’ first-round sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies, scoring two points and taking one rebound in six minutes.

In Game 1 against the Lakers, he had three rebounds in three minutes and appeared to have taken the enforcer role from Malik Rose, who did not play. Willis committed two fouls.

“He’s someone we’d look to more for this series than we would in the Memphis series,” Popovich said.

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The Spurs have won 16 consecutive games, one short of the franchise record set during the 1995-96 season. They haven’t lost since the Minnesota Timberwolves beat them, 86-81, on March 23 in Minneapolis.