A Giant Leap of Fate

SAN ANTONIO — If the Lakers’ third consecutive championship comes, it will have been won in the places that tighten men’s jump shots, and widen their eyes, and shorten their breath.

That’s for most men. The San Antonio Spurs, for certain. But not Kobe Bryant, it would seem.

Bryant, 23 going on something like Jordan, something like West, pulled the Lakers back from defeat Sunday afternoon.

He scored 10 points in the final five minutes, the last two on a rebound and put-back with 5.1 seconds left, and so the Lakers, 87-85 winners at the Alamodome, returned to Los Angeles with a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals.

Team owner Jerry Buss, who sat across the floor from the Laker bench, stood and grinned and said after his team’s 11th consecutive road victory in the playoffs, “That was something else.” And it was.

The Lakers were 10 points behind with 4:55 remaining, and tied, 85-85, with 2:10 remaining. Bryant, who put the Spurs and their 35,000-plus fans through the same agony two nights before, made two three-pointers within 43 seconds of each other and then, with time running out, maintained a dribble at the top of the key.

The crowd howled and the Spurs, who missed 15 of 18 fourth-quarter shots and scored 10 fourth-quarter points, tightened, and widened, and shortened, because these were the moments in which they failed against the Lakers before.

“It’s always one or two things that turn the whole game around,” Spur center David Robinson said. “And that is what we need to stop.”

Tim Duncan, the league most valuable player, scored 30 points but missed both fourth-quarter field-goal attempts, the second after scooping up a loose ball/push pass from Terry Porter and heaving it 20 feet when it needed 21 at the buzzer. Rookie Tony Parker had 15 points, two in the fourth. Robinson, in 10 fourth-quarter minutes, did not score.

“We’ve been in every type of situation imaginable, so we know what it takes in a hostile environment such as this one,” said Laker center Shaquille O’Neal, who played through two sprained ankles, an arthritic toe and a stitched finger for 22 points and a critical late rebound. “We showed a lot of heart, a lot of composure, and we got two.”

All of that, the Laker run and the Spur fade, the possessions where the Lakers forced Duncan to relinquish the ball to teammates on the perimeter--decisions Duncan later said he regretted--finally left Bryant with the ball, the score tied.

“That’s what I live for,” he said. “I’ve dreamed of these situations countless times as a kid. Still dream of it to this day. So, it’s fun to play in this type of environment, this situation.”

A funny thing happened on his way to breaking the Spurs’ hearts. He dribbled the ball off his foot. As he and defender Bruce Bowen chased the loose ball toward mid-court, Derek Fisher dashed in and scooped it up.

“The first thing that came to mind was to look at the shot clock,” Fisher said.

Fisher took the ball to the middle and pushed a left-handed jumper from 17 feet that banged off the front of the rim. In the lane, where 7-footers abounded, Bryant rose up and took the rebound with one hand with seven seconds remaining.

He rose up again, now within four feet of the rim, and flipped the ball over Robinson and into the basket. It fell with 5.1 seconds left.

“That’s just Kobe being Kobe,” Laker forward Samaki Walker said. “As he goes, a lot of times we go. We all know that. Coming out of the huddle [with the Lakers down two] I said to him, ‘Bring it home for us.’ He said, ‘This is what I live for.’ He’s that kind of player.”

Bryant scored 11 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3, when the Lakers came back from a late deficit to beat the Spurs by 10. His 12 points in the fourth quarter of Game 4 outscored the Spurs.

His two three-pointers, from a previously balky jump-shot stroke, had brought the Lakers to the point they could hope. O’Neal, surrounded on the inside, assisted on both.

“I told him to take over the game,” O’Neal said. “He wanted the ball. They were very, very concerned with what I was doing when I got the ball. I made a couple of dribbles like I was going to do something and [kicked] it out.”

The Spurs had done their usual fourth-quarter thing, having scored 18 points in Game 3, 15 in Game 2 and 19 in Game 1. In the four fourth quarters in the series, the Lakers have outscored the Spurs by 32 points.

But the Spurs had a last chance to make it right. After a timeout, they inbounded the ball to Duncan, who was fouled with 3.2 seconds left. That gave the Spurs another inbounds play, and this time Danny Ferry passed to Terry Porter, who dribbled and, pressed by Fisher, fell. He shoved the ball toward Duncan, who could not make the shot. The Lakers hugged, and Duncan stomped toward his locker room.

To go on, the Spurs will have to beat the Lakers three consecutive times. The Lakers have lost three straight games once in Jackson’s three seasons.

“I just love playing in pressure-type situations,” Bryant said. “I’ve always been that way. It starts from an early age, playing pickup basketball, things of that nature.

“I’ve kind of grown into this role. My teammates look for me. They expect me to deliver in this kind of situation. That’s what I do for this team.”

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Coming Fourth

*--* The Lakers have dominated the fourth quarter in the first four games of their series with the Spurs: GAME 1 LAKERS SPURS Points 29 19 FG-FGA 9-21 7-20 FG pct 429 350 GAME 2 LAKERS SPURS Points 20 15 FG-FGA 7-14 5-18 FG pct 500 278 GAME 3 LAKERS SPURS Points 25 18 FG-FGA 9-16 8-22 FG pct 563 367 GAME 4 LAKERS SPURS Points 20 10 FG-FGA 5-15 3-18 FG pct 333 167 TOTALS LAKERS SPURS Points 94 62 FG-FGA 30-66 23-78 FG pct 455 295

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