Popovich Drops the Comedy

The Gregg Popovich daily comedy revue took a day off, the one-liners and free-throw jokes buried in favor of a less ebullient demeanor Thursday.

Perhaps setting an all-business tone that he expects his team to follow, the Spurs’ coach answered media questions with far fewer punch lines than in recent days.

The Spurs, after all, were in the same situation last season, holding serve in two home games against the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals before heading west. They then lost two games in L.A., a pattern Popovich hopes to avoid again, although the Spurs recovered to win the series in six games.

Popovich made it clear early he didn’t want to talk about last season’s Game 3 against the Lakers, where Kobe Bryant hit the Spurs for 39 points in the Lakers’ 110-95 victory. The Lakers then held off the Spurs in Game 4, 99-95.

“Different teams, different year,” Popovich said. “The past doesn’t matter.” He also didn’t care to discuss the mind-set of the Lakers -- “I can’t control that at all,” he said -- and he bristled when asked whether he was out-coaching Phil Jackson.

“That’s a ridiculous question,” he said, later saying the series was far from finished.

The comparisons to last season’s temporary turn of events in L.A. had to come from guard Manu Ginobili, averaging 13 points this series.

“We had a really bad Game 3 and a close Game 4, but it wasn’t enough,” Ginobili said. “We don’t want to come to Game 5 in the same situation as last year. We definitely want to take one in L.A. We know that it’s not going to be easy at all. They’re going to have the crowd in their favor. They have pride.”

The Spurs split two games at Staples Center this season, beating the Lakers on April 4, 95-89, and losing on Nov. 28, 103-87.

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Guard Hedo Turkoglu, who had little impact in the series until hitting a three-pointer that crushed Laker momentum in the fourth quarter of Game 2, has been bothered by a respiratory infection, Popovich said.

“You can see it in him,” Popovich said. “He’s really weak. Hopefully by Sunday he’ll have his strength back.”

Turkoglu was scoreless in Game 1 and had nine points in Game 2.

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Burly forward Malik Rose has had run-ins with the Lakers in series past, but he has been reduced to waving towels in Games 1 and 2.

Rose has not played against the Lakers, losing time to Robert Horry as a third defensive option for Shaquille O’Neal after Rasho Nesterovic and Tim Duncan.

Buried in Popovich’s doghouse, Rose was thrown a bone Thursday.

“He hasn’t played a lick for the most part in Memphis and against L.A., and he’s been just as team-oriented or more so than he’s ever been,” Popovich said. “That’s a very difficult position for him to be in and he’s handled it with grace and he’s kept himself ready.”