Maybe They Need a Geometry Lesson

Even Robert Horry isn’t sure what shape the Laker offense is taking these days.

He should be plenty familiar with the triangle offense after spending more than six seasons with the Lakers, four under Phil Jackson, but he saw some not-so-subtle nuances in the Lakers’ Game 1 loss.

“They’re basically the same plays but the one thing I noticed is they don’t run the triangle like they used to,” Horry said. “The angles are way off. There’s no triangle. Sometimes guys come down there and they’re not in the position they’re supposed to be in. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not worried about that. We’re just going to worry about ourselves.”

Horry, who went scoreless for the Spurs in 23 minutes in Game 1, wasn’t quite sure which Laker team would appear tonight in Game 2. He all but recused himself from further analysis, citing unfamiliarity with the current-day workings of the Laker locker room.

“You’ve got two new additions in Gary [Payton] and Karl [Malone] so you don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said. “I watched the game in Houston where they came out and Karl was very aggressive offensively. We’ve got to wait and see.”

Horry said the one thing he expected tonight was better personal numbers: He had two turnovers, two fouls and missed both shots he took in Game 1.

“You get all these emotions from the fans because it’s the playoffs and you get all these emotions that you want to beat your old team,” Horry said. “For me personally, I thought I had a little bit too much emotion, so hopefully by Game 2 I’ll be settled into a situation where I can play a little bit better.”

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The Spurs are preparing for the Laker team that fired off a 32-point third quarter in Game 1, not the one that staggered home with a 13-point fourth quarter on the way to an 88-78 loss.

“They’re going to try to play with the intensity of the third quarter the whole game,” guard Manu Ginobili said. “They’re experienced. They know what to do.”

Ginobili, one of few dependable Spurs at the free-throw line, said his team’s woeful free-throw shooting -- nine for 21 (42.9%) in Game 1 -- was not worth further dissection.

“We were like that last year and we won it anyways,” said Ginobili, who has made 19 of 22 free throws in the playoffs. “We don’t have to think about it so much. We can’t be talking about that the whole time because I think it’s worse for the guys that are having trouble.”

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Spur forward Tim Duncan wasn’t complaining after he finished a distant second to Kevin Garnett for the MVP award. Garnett received 120 of 123 first-place votes.

“Well deserved,” said Duncan, who won the previous two MVP awards. “He had an incredible year.”