Spurs say series hinges on defense

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The San Antonio Spurs lost twice in Los Angeles, and they know exactly where the blame lies.

It wasn't Jack Nicholson and the 19,000 other raucous Lakers fans blowing the roof off the Staples Center every time the home team scored.

It wasn't the emotional boost the Lakers got from coach Phil Jackson's emergency heart surgery over the weekend.

It wasn't Tony Parker's errant inbounds pass in the waning seconds of Sunday's Game 4 -- a perfect strike to Kobe Bryant that sealed San Antonio's 99-95 defeat.

And it certainly wasn't the referees, whose whistles resulted in 40 free throws for Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in Game 4, nearly as many as the Spurs shot in both games combined (49).

No, San Antonio lost because it didn't defend well in the first half of Game 3, a 110-95 blowout, and the Spurs didn't defend well in the second half of Game 4 after the Lakers had erased a 16-point, first-half deficit.

"You can't be below par defensively, especially if you expect to win at their place," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Monday.

"With less than a minute to go (in Game 4), we could have won the basketball game," Popovich said. "Had our defense been up to par, I don't think we would have been in that situation."

Game 5 of the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal is Tuesday night in San Antonio, and the Lakers will have their coach back on the bench after he missed Game 4.

"I feel like a lucky man," said Jackson, who on Saturday had an angioplasty to unblock a heart artery. "We're back in the hunt in the playoffs with a team that's rejuvenated, and I've got a new lease on life."

San Antonio played their brand of relentless, rotating defense at home and won the first two games.

But on Sunday, those same defenders seemed to be a step slower. They grabbed and groped at Bryant as he drove past them, and they waved harmlessly at jump shots by Devean George and Derek Fisher, who together scored 26 points and went 5-for-8 on 3-pointers.

Bruce Bowen, whose assignment is to guard Bryant, brushed away any suggestion the loss had anything to do with the officiating.

"We can't say, 'The refs are doing this, the refs are doing that' -- that's like (saying) 'The dog ate my homework,"' said Bowen, selected to the All-Defensive second team this season. "We have to play our game and understand that when we play our game, we don't put people on the free throw line."

Bryant said Monday the Spurs had to contend in Los Angeles with a Lakers attack different from the one in San Antonio.

"What I have been doing here is moving without the basketball," he said before the team boarded their flight. "Everybody's active on the offensive end."

Los Angeles shot nearly 48 percent from the field in Games 3 and 4, compared to 42 percent in the first two games. The Lakers may have momentum, but they also have a hurdle of their own to get over -- they have yet to win a game in four tries at the SBC Center.

"I don't know what it is," O'Neal said after Sunday's game. "I remember we were pretty unbeatable when (Staples Center) opened. But we just have to keep fighting. ... Just keep playing ball like we can, and we'll be fine."

Bryant said Los Angeles isn't worried about the lack of success in San Antonio's new arena.

"We're about due for one," he said. "We're just looking at it as another challenge."

 

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