Westphal smiles at the irony of the opposing coach in this series being largely responsible for the necessary U-turn one of his own players has taken. "I give Luke a lot of credit," Westphal said. "First, Richard deserves the credit for turning his life around as he has. But Luke has put in a lot of sweat. He deserves a big tip of the hat from us, from all basketball fans really. Richard is one of the great stories this year in sports."
Lucas is another. The Spurs won 18 of 19 games in one stretch for a remarkable turnaround from what Tark had wrought. San Antonio came back to earth somewhat, finishing behind Houston in the Central Division. But it was clear that regardless the record, this particular team responded to a coach's very different approach.
