Lakers vs. Spurs: It's what's inside that matters

Sporting News, The, May 21, 2001 by Sean Deveney

It was just a few minutes after Game 1 of the Spurs' second-round series against the Mavericks, and already thoughts had skipped ahead two weeks. Never mind San Antonio still had three games to win against Dallas, and never mind the Lakers had not even started their series against the Kings. After Spurs guard Derek Anderson separated his shoulder, no one seemed particularly worried about who would defend Dallas' Michael Finley.

"Are you ready to guard Kobe?" Steve Kerr, one of Anderson's backups, was asked.

"No comment," Kerr replied, smiling. "Maybe we should get past Game 2 before we start thinking about that."

Come on, Steve, surely you did not expect us to take seriously these pesky early-round games. The Western Conference playoffs have amounted to a series of anti-climaxes leading up to the inevitable: a Spurs-Lakers conference final.

Entering last weekend, only a series of miracles could prevent the matchup, so losing Anderson could only be taken in the context of his potential matchup against Kobe Bryant.

Let's make it clear that the loss of Anderson will have little bearing on the outcome of a Spurs-Lakers series.

There is no sense looking for subtleties or X-factors in this matchup. It doesn't matter who guards Bryant. Bryant sat out one of the Lakers' wins over the Spurs during the regular season, and he averaged 37.7 points in the other three games. Still, the Lakers went 1-2 in those games. Anderson played horribly in three games against the Lakers, shooting 12-for-35 (34.3 percent) with 3.7 turnovers a game, but the Spurs won two of those games. In the one game against the Lakers in which Anderson played well (9-for-19, 23 points, eight rebounds), San Antonio lost

Little things have no impact here--but big things sure do. This series will be decided inside, where Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal has been flinging aside helpless opponents like sacks of flour. O'Neal averaged 33.7 points per game in April and entered last weekend averaging 31.5 points and 17.7 rebounds in the playoffs. The combinations of Sacramento's Arvydas Sabonis and Dale Davis and Portland's Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard combinations have proved futile, to put it mildly.

But, in Tim Duncan and David Robinson, the Spurs have the only combo in the NBA with enough size and talent to adequately defend O'Neal, which means keeping him from getting the ball deep in the post

"If they allow him the space to catch the ball and operate with the basketball, then we will keep going there," says Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

"If he gets 40 points or 50 points, it doesn't matter to me."

Don't worry about Anderson's shoulder, or Kerr vs. Kobe. The largest men on the court will be the ones who decide this series.