Lone-Star Stakes

By Mark Heisler

April 30, 2004 12 AM PT

SAN ANTONIO — Just what the Lakers were hoping for, another spring on that @#$%}&*! Riverwalk.

Like the swallows that always find themselves returning to Capistrano, the Lakers always find themselves coming back to the lovely Honeymoon Capital of Texas, even if it’s not their idea of a vacation spot.

This is where Shaquille O’Neal won a state high school title and has been reviled since, where he destroyed a TV and VCR after a loss in the 1999 series when the Spurs swept, where teammates stepped between him and Coach Phil Jackson during an exchange in 2002 when the Lakers won, where Robert Horry’s three-pointer at the end of Game 5 that might have turned the 2003 series around went down and spun out, followed by the Lakers two days later.

Since Horry, who made so many big shots for the Lakers, is now a Spur, his old teammates can only hope that was his last big moment in the rivalry.

Of course, in his new home, Horry says that shot has come up in conversation once or twice.

“Certain things you always talk about,” he said Thursday. “I mean, what if, if this happened that happened, but other than that, we don’t talk about it....

“It’s no point in talking about that. They got the most important thing out of that [an NBA title]. What am I going say, ‘I almost sent y’all home?’ ”

This will be the fifth time in the last six years the teams have met in the playoffs, with the survivor of the previous four going on to win the NBA title each time.

Not that Jackson doesn’t like Mexican cuisine, or humidity, but he has chosen to commute from Los Angeles. The Lakers will fly home after Sunday’s Game 1, then return for Wednesday’s Game 2.

Or as Jackson said Thursday: “Once you’ve been there, you’ve been there often enough.”

Not that Jackson’s team couldn’t get in trouble at home, as well as on the Riverwalk or in a dressing room by themselves. If Jackson could solve the refueling problem, he might keep the charter in the air all week, like a SAC bomber.

Even in what may be the Lakers’ last playoff season together, someone stomps out of the dressing room after half their victories, literally. Gary Payton got the blues after sitting out the fourth quarter of Game 2 and Shaquille O’Neal looked upset after Game 5.

The Spurs can’t match the Lakers, superstar for superstar, but are a lot less distracted and more cohesive. If everything about the Lakers screams marquee, everything about the Spurs is low-key.

The Lakers have always had the talent edge, with the devastating O’Neal-Bryant tandem, and the Spurs countering with the young Tim Duncan and the aging David Robinson.

Nevertheless, the question of who owns this era is still open. In four playoff series since 1999, each team has won twice, including one 4-0 sweep apiece.

The Lakers have won three titles, including one in 2000 when Duncan was hurt. The Spurs have two titles.

Happily, at least before Thursday, they had fought each other ferociously without demeaning each other, as the Lakers had decided they had to do with their Pacific Division archrivals, the Sacramento Kings. The Lakers have had more fights in exhibitions with the Kings than in all their games against the Spurs.

Of course, Jackson being Jackson, he said the Spurs’ 1999 title should have come with an asterisk, because it followed the lockout-shortened season, leading to a lot of predictable lines.

However, the Laker coach, who called Kings’ fans “red-necked semi-civilized barbarians,” never found reason to zing the semi-civilized rednecks down here, which is a good thing because there’s no shortage of cowbells here.

Jackson also once called Spur Coach Gregg Popovich and his staff “the simulator crew,” since none of them played in the NBA. Popovich, whose no-bull attitude precludes feuds and responses, claimed he’d taken no offense.

“Both teams have good players and good players means you win games and we’ve both ended up winning a lot of games over the past few years and you end up matched against each other so often, I guess people start to make it a rivalry,” Popovich said.

“I don’t really look at it like that. It’s not like the Yankees and the Red Sox. They kind of hate each other from what I see on TV. It’s just good competitive stuff. I wouldn’t call it, like, an in-state rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M; or something like that.”

The Lakers thought they had this thing settled after putting the No. 1-seeded Spurs to the torch in a devastating 4-0 West finals in 2001, with an average victory margin of 22 points.

Indeed, they ousted the Spurs again in 2002. But in 2003, the Spurs’ first season in the SBC Center, they swept the Lakers, 4-0, during the season, and eliminated them in the spring.

Jackson, being Jackson, said it was fine to be meeting the Spurs again, but it’s actually a tough matchup.

With two 7-footers and a tough, defensive philosophy, the Spurs have always been able to somewhat contain O’Neal, who couldn’t get tougher tests in succession, coming off another difficult matchup with Yao Ming and no rest in sight.

Before, he faced Duncan and the aging Robinson. Now, it’s Duncan and Rasho Nesterovic, who’s younger than Robinson but not as good. Nevertheless, the Spurs still aren’t much of a homecoming for Shaq, who averaged 21 points against them this season.

Barring upsets or an early demise, this will also be the first of three road playoff series for the Lakers, something else they’d have preferred to avoid.

A year ago, Jackson thought the opening-round six-game series with the Minnesota Timberwolves wore the Lakers out and set them up for the second-round loss to the Spurs.

Jackson was hoping to avoid back-to-back road playoff series in the West this spring, although, being Jackson, when it became inevitable, he said it was too early to worry about it.

“Well,” Jackson said a couple of weeks ago, laughing, “let’s worry about the second and third [rounds] when we get to it, OK?”

OK, they’re here.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

How the West Is Won

During their NBA championship runs in the last five years, the Lakers and San Antonio have met four times in the Western Conference playoffs:

*--* YEAR ROUND RESULT 1999 Conf. Semifinals Spurs, 4-0 2000 Did not play 2001 Conf. Finals Lakers, 4-0 2002 Conf. Semifinals Lakers, 4-1 2003 Conf. Semifinals Spurs, 4-2

*--*

2003 NBA CHAMPIONS: SPURS

2002 NBA CHAMPIONS: LAKERS

2001 NBA CHAMPIONS: LAKERS

2000 NBA CHAMPIONS: LAKERS

1999 NBA CHAMPIONS: SPURS

LAKERS vs. SAN ANTONIO

TENTATIVE CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS SCHEDULE, BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES

GAME 1 Sunday at San Antonio, 12:30 p.m. Channel 7

GAME 2 Wednesday at San Antonio, time TBA TNT

GAME 3 May 9 at Staples Center time and TV TBA

GAME 4 May 11 or 13 at Staples Center time and TV TBA