Victory feels like series-clincher for Lakers
BILL PLASCHKE
After L.A. comes back from a 20-point third-quarter deficit, the result certainly figures to resonate on both sides.
In the end, when the unimaginable blinked on the scoreboard, when the unthinkable danced on the hardwood, the cheers even drowned out Randy Newman.
All but three words.
"We love it!" the too-cool Staples Center fans giddily chanted with their victory song. "We love it! We love it! We love it!"
Oh, will the Lakers forever love this one.
Man, will the Spurs forever loathe it.
It was just one game, just Game 1, just a beginning.
It felt like seven games, Game 7, an ending.
The Lakers didn't just come back from a 20-point deficit to steal an 89-85 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals opener Wednesday.
They turned basketball's smartest crunch-time team into dummies.
They turned basketball's toughest veterans into twitching rookies.
They stole a victory from a team that was doing everything right, and they stole it after doing everything wrong.
In the end, after another Spur had bricked and another Laker had dived and wonderful spring chaos had once again returned to 11th and Figueroa, both locker rooms were quiet.
The Spurs, because they were trying to leave.
"We're supposed to be smarter than this," said Robert Horry, rushing into the hallway.
The Lakers, because they were trying not to laugh.
"I would think a loss like this might take a little bit out of their sails," said Jordan Farmar, dressing slowly.
The last time the Lakers pulled off a playoff comeback this large, they needed Horry to win it with that infamous last-second shot against Sacramento in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
You know what happened next.
The last time the Spurs blew this sort of lead and lost this sort of close game under this sort of pressure was, well, almost never.
You can almost guess what will happen next.
The weary champions have a 20-point lead on the court of the young team, and hold that team to under 90 points . . . and still lose?
The aging champions have a chance to throw a huge first punch on the road against a team that played with rust and dust . . . and they miss?
"Obviously we were up 20 and we hoped to put that one away and put them on their heels, but we didn't," said Tim Duncan, shaking his head. "We have to recover."
Recover? How do you recover from something such as this?
The answer is, you probably can't.
