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<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Changes in Western Civilization </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>
By Michael Wilbon<br>
Friday, May 16, 2003; Page D01 <br>
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LOS ANGELES <br>
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Phil Jackson says dynasties are always kept together a year too long, and Thursday night proved his point. The Los Angeles Lakers, all season including these playoffs, were a shell of their championship selves, struggling with challengers fortified by drafts and trades and free agents signings. The Kings, Mavericks and Spurs have gathered players from all over the world to depose the Lakers. And after three years, somebody finally has done it.<br>
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A younger, stronger, quicker, faster, more athletic and perhaps more skilled San Antonio team beat the daylights out of the champs on their home court. Tim Duncan schooled Shaquille O'Neal. San Antonio's back-court combination of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker outplayed a tired-looking Kobe Bryant. And the Spurs got the kind of contributions the Lakers used to get, before they got old and tired and worn to a frazzle from six extra months of basketball the last three championship seasons.<br>
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It isn't enough to trot O'Neal and Bryant onto the court and expect to beat teams as good as the Spurs and Kings when healthy. The Lakers still have the two best players in the game, but they'll have to put together a more complete team or wind up falling back in the pack. While the Spurs stormed through Game 6 of this Western Conference semifinal series with the likes of Malik Rose and the multi-talented rookie Ginobili coming off the bench, the Lakers tried to defend their championship with unheralded Stanislav Medvedenko and Jannero Pargo playing major minutes.<br>
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Lakers management made the decision when the club signed Shaq, Kobe and Jackson to more than $30 million per season that the team would live and die primarily with that trio. Owner Jerry Buss says he's not paying the luxury tax and his Lakers will not be George Steinbrenner's Yankees. The club also decided last offseason it just couldn't dump Robert Horry, not after he bailed out the Lakers twice in the playoffs. The champs thought -- or maybe they hoped -- they could squeeze one more winning season out of Horry and Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and Brian Shaw. They felt rookie Kareem Rush and Samaki Walker could spice up an aging lineup. The thinking was flawed.<br>
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If you wondered why the Lakers couldn't get out front early, why they seemingly had to fall behind and play catch up in most of these playoff games versus Minnesota and San Antonio, it's because they didn't have the energy or the personnel anymore to set the pace. Their lineup hasn't been fortified in years. Ron Harper is no longer playing. Fox is hurt. Shaw and Horry, clutch as they've been, are on their last legs. It's Shaq and Kobe and start praying. So the Lakers have had to pick their spots. At times they look like Sugar Ray Leonard, trying to come up with a flurry at the end of each round and big points late. <br>
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When Jackson removed Shaq from the lineup with 4:34 remaining, it wasn't just a concession that the game was over, and the championship run was done; it was also an acknowledgement that the Spurs were a superior team and four or five more minutes wasn't going to change the outcome or the truth of the matter. "You have to understand," Kobe said, "that teams reload and restock and they try to dethrone you. [The Spurs] reloaded with the right ammo for what they needed to battle."<br>
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The defeat has to (or ought to) be particularly bitter because of the way Duncan carved up Shaq. The NBA's MVP -- that would be Duncan, not Shaq -- made 16 of 25 shots, grabbed 16 rebounds, handed out four assists and finished with 37 points. Shaq made 13 of 21 shots, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out four assists and finished with 31 points. In this case, the numbers tell the story. Let there be no doubt whatsoever Duncan was better than Shaq all season, better than Shaq in this series for three-quarters of every game, and better than Shaq in Game 6 with everything at stake. <br>
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Duncan wore out Horry early, Shaq late and Medvedenko in between. It ought to be a quiet, re-dedicated offseason for Shaq after this whacking. It's not like Shaq didn't play well; he did. But the Spurs' best player was better than the Lakers' best player. And the second best player on the court was Parker, the 21-year-old, one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. He absolutely outplayed Bryant in Game 6, which could only happen because Bryant (like Shaq) had to play too many minutes and carry too many games for too long this season. With Parker, a second-year guard who can shoot and pass, playing alongside Ginobili, a rookie who can shoot and pass, the Spurs don't have to go looking for Jason Kidd in free agency.<br>
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The question now is whether the Lakers are willing and able to re-work the roster to climb back into championship contention. The Chicago Bulls, each and every year, tinkered wonderfully with their championship rosters. Craig Hodges was replaced by Trent Tucker, who was replaced by Steve Kerr. Horace Grant left, Dennis Rodman arrived. The Bulls -- goodness, I guess this means I have to credit Jerry Krause -- got it right time after time after time. The Lakers, restricted by the salary cap in ways the Bulls were not, have a lot of patching to do. And they don't have Jerry West to do it. Mitch Kupchak is now the guy on the spot. This group maxed out, did all it could, and did it fabulously, put together one of the great runs in NBA history. Now, they need Kupchak's help.<br>
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Maybe Hedo Turkoglu, a restricted free agent from Sacramento, would come to the Lakers for less money, but maybe not. Maybe free agent Jermaine O'Neal would play for the mid-level exception, maybe not. Maybe the Lakers will fleece the co-tenant Clippers for Elton Brand or Lamar Odom, bring Reggie Miller for one last hurrah, and climb right back in the race.<br>
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But it's going to be difficult because there are teams, like the Spurs and Kings and maybe even the Mavericks, with a running head start.<br>
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"We've gotten a little bit older, and this year we suffered some injuries," said Jackson, who hasn't ended a season without winning a championship as a head coach since 1995. "This year we stumbled, we fell, we had inconsistencies, we lacked some discipline as a basketball club and we paid the price for it. We're happy to say we tried our best, but it wasn't good enough."<br>
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