Different State of Mind

"They're a great home team, and I know they're going to be tough on their home floor," Bryant said. "They play with more energy. They play with more confidence. The shots they weren't making here will probably go down in San Antonio. So, we can't play as carefree or get wrapped up in the momentum as we do at home. We have to play more of an intellectual game, where we play our parts. They're going to be tough to beat on their home floor. So, it's on us to go there and try to take the air out of the game.

"My biggest concern is we'll play, we'll attempt to play, the same type of style on the road as we did here at home.... It's something we can't do. Home basketball and road basketball are two completely different animals. So we have to attack it differently. Our game plan might change slightly, but the mentality when we go on the road has to be different."

The main difference, as O'Neal sees it: At home he turns off Mulholland to Beverly Glen, right on Ventura, left on Coldwater Canyon.

Today, he said, "They're going to be comfortable driving down their streets."

The Lakers won twice in San Antonio during the regular season. They won a game in Houston during the first round. After weeks in which their offensive emphasis was scattered, leading to uneven efforts, two of those in San Antonio, O'Neal is again prominent, and they believe that will lead to consistency.

"We've just got to keep playing the way we're playing," Payton said.

O'Neal has averaged nearly 30 points and 15 rebounds in his last three games. He seems to have found something somewhat reliable at the free-throw line and he is lively on defense. He blocked 12 shots in two games against the Spurs in Los Angeles. But, again, that was Los Angeles. This is San Antonio.

"Now's the time we both know each other very, very well as basketball teams," Coach Phil Jackson said. "Now's the time for execution that will bring a winner to the game.

"We need to maintain a different direction."