Spurs Try to Put Game 1 Collapse Behind Them

One game, that's all it was. And it's on to Game 2. That was the San Antonio Spurs' attitude Thursday in the wake of their blown opportunity in the opener of the Western Conference finals. "They're up 1-0. The important thing for us is to not let the game linger," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said at the team's hotel in suburban Santa Monica some 14 1/2 hours after the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 20-point deficit for an 89-85 triumph.

Game 2 will be played tonight at Staples Center, where the Lakers haven't lost since March 28. The best-of-seven series then shifts to San Antonio for the third and fourth games.

"It's huge, obviously," San Antonio point guard Tony Parker said. "We don't want to go down 0-2 because it's very difficult to come back. But we did come back."

Entering the conference finals, only 14 of the 222 teams to fall behind 2-0 in best-of-seven NBA playoff series have won, including the Spurs in their second-round matchup with New Orleans.

"We're down one game, that's all," said Tim Duncan, who had 30 points, 18 rebounds and four blocked shots in a losing cause. "Our goal is to get to four (wins). A lot of credit goes to them. Obviously, they played excellent. They came back at us. Kobe (Bryant) took it over."

The Spurs shot 3-for-21 and committed five turnovers while being outscored, 24-13, in the fourth quarter. The Lakers outscored the defending NBA champions 44-20 to finish the game. Bryant had 23 of those points, including 14 in the final period, when he outscored San Antonio by himself.

"We're very pleased overall with what we did defensively," Popovich said. "Our problem was we have to keep scoring, and we didn't last night."

Popovich bristled when the advancing age of the Spurs was brought up as a possible connection to the loss.

"When we win, we're the experienced team. When we lose, we're older than dirt," he said. "That's just silly. Sometimes people don't make shots. We can do some things better."

Duncan scored eight of his team's 13 fourth-quarter points. Bruce Bowen made a 3-pointer and Manu Ginobili added two free throws while Parker went scoreless after scoring 18 in the first three periods.

"Poor decision-making," Duncan said. "We turned the ball over, got shots late in the clock, things we can clean up."

While the Lakers expressed satisfaction with the comeback victory, several said they didn't believe it will have an impact on the rest of the series, either.

"They'll make adjustments, they know what to do. They have a lot of weapons," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "They're here to win one."

Bryant said much the same thing.

"They've been through so many battles," he said. "They're going to keep coming."

Asked if the Lakers' defense was responsible for San Antonio's horrid fourth-quarter performance, Bryant replied: "I don't think any defense is that good. I think it was a combination of them not shooting the ball well, not making shots they usually make, and us applying pressure."