One of my regular listeners, Adrian Duran has been writing a blog during the Lakers-Spurs series and is not afraid to talk a little trash. Here's his comments after Game 4 last night:
EXTRA...EXTRA...READ ALL ABOUT IT...BREAKING NEW...BREAKING NEWS
I will start off this segment of the breaking news with a little bit of history for all of you...What do Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, John Kundla (Minneapolis Lakers) and Greg Popovich have in common? Answer: They are the only coaches in NBA history with 4 or more titles on their resume. Now every one here remembers the old Sesame Street song, "One of These Things is Not Like the Others" right? The answer to that is much more relevant to today's news. Look a little bit deeper at the history of those 5 coaches, and you will see that all but one of them was able to lead their teams to REPEAT TITLES!!!! Do I really have to tell you who has not! I realize that the series is not yet (officially) over, but is anyone willing to put money on the fact that Crater Face Popovich will remain as the lone ranger of the bunch who has failed to defend a Title?
Popovich must have a crystal ball at his disposal though. After all, when he was asked in the pregame interviews how many points he thought his team would need in order to pull out a win, he said "96-102." If his coaching was half as good as his prognosticating, we might actually have a series here. As I mentioned to you before signing off after my game 3 analysis, I found it highly unlikely that the spurs would hit 56% of their three point attempts (Game 4 result - 7of 24 for 29.2%). I also did not think the big three for the spurs would connect on 55% of their shots for 70% of their team's offense (Game 4 result - 20 of 51 for 39.2% and 64.8% of the offense). On the LAKERS side, I predicted that FISHER, GASOL and ODOM would shoot better than 30% from the field and 40% from the line (Game 4 results - 12 for 23 for 52.2% from the field, and 10 for 13 for 77% from the line). With the tables turning as I predicted, the LAKERS were able to deal the spurs their first loss at home during the playoffs. Unfortunately for the spurs fans, it could very well be their last game at home period.
If not for Brent Barry, who knows how this game might have turned out. Manu must have given him directions to the Lady of Lourdes Grotto, but he should have driven him there so he could have done some more praying himself. Apparently he prayed only long enough for one games worth of help. Not even making 24 out of 26 free throws could save the spurs tonight. Yes, I can already hear all of you saying that a three at the buzzer would have changed everything in this series. Yes it would have, and if my aunt had hair on her chest she'd be my uncle! The fact of the matter remains that the LAKERS have now taken a commanding 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals!
If there is any consolation to all of you spurs fans out there tonight, it would have to be that you may only have to put up with this column one more time after tonight. Until next time...
San Antonio Express News Guest Columnist
Adrian Duran