Turkoglu Enjoys the Experience

Hedo Turkoglu has been in this situation before, a do-or-demise series against the Lakers where the winner has a chance to keep going for quite a while.

But there’s a difference this time around. Turkoglu is with the battle-scarred San Antonio Spurs, not the Sacramento Kings, an entertaining but oft-overwhelmed band of characters.

Turkoglu spent three seasons with the talented and tumultuous Kings before joining the Spurs this season as a free agent, a change as tangible as the Spurs’ half-court offense, vibrant defense and on-court confidence that comes with winning two NBA titles in five seasons.

In Sacramento, the Lakers were considered all that was wrong with the NBA, big-city bullies with a coach who made fun of fans’ rural tendencies. Not so much in San Antonio, where the rivalry is lively but not the meaning of life.

“It’s not as intense because we have a chance to beat the Lakers and go on from there,” Turkoglu said. “This team has the experience to win the championship. In Sacramento, they didn’t have that.”

Turkoglu, held scoreless in Game 1 on 0-for-6 shooting, had nine points in Game 2. It would be tough to find a bigger play than his three-pointer that turned a two-point edge into an 83-78 lead with 5:51 left. The Lakers never got within two again.

“I needed that,” Turkoglu said. “ ...I needed to get in the rhythm, because the rest of our team is in rhythm.”

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The Spurs were better from the free-throw line Wednesday than they were in Game 1, which wasn’t saying much.

There was plenty of room for improvement after the Spurs made nine of 21 (42.9%) in Game 1, the worst free-throw percentage in a playoff game in franchise history. Wednesday, they made 18 of 30 free throws (60%). The Lakers made seven of 18 (38.9%).

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Spur forward Robert Horry, who has played alongside Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal, said Olajuwon was the best of the three.

“Each guy’s great in a different way,” Horry said. “Out of all three, I still have to stick with Dream because he had so much game. He could shoot it from the outside like Tim, he could power inside like Shaq. Besides, his free throws were a little bit better.”

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Tony Parker, who jammed his left thumb in the fourth quarter of Game 1, finished with 30 points on 13-for-23 shooting. He played without the soft brace he had been wearing.