MONROE: Duncan answers questions; Lakers face them

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>BY MIKE MONROE</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>
<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://foxsports.lycos.com/content/view?contentId=1331300">FOXSports.com</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br>
May. 15, 2003 8:40 p.m. <br>
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Because Tim Duncan did everything required to shut up anyone and everyone who didn't believe he should have been Most Valuable Player again this season, there will be a new NBA champion for the first time in four years.<br>
The kings are dead.<br>
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Long live the new kings, whoever they may be, and from this corner it looks like it will be Duncan and his San Antonio Spurs.<br>
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It was going to take a remarkable performance by a remarkable player if the Spurs were going to eliminate a team whose edge the past three seasons has been the belief it could win whenever the need was greatest.<br>
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Duncan's 37-point, 16-rebound performance, on an array of shots and moves no other big man owns, was precisely that kind of effort.<br>
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The Lakers clearly had determined not to double-team Duncan in the series because the Spurs this season have reliable weapons capable of hitting open shots. Robert Horry, whose decline this season has been precipitous, was entirely overmatched, as was Slava Medvedenko. And Mark Madsen didn't even get a shot at him Thursday night.<br>
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Duncan had yet to prove he could score on Shaquille O'Neal, whose bulk gives him a big edge and whose feet are quicker than anyone his size has a right to expect.<br>
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There were those who wondered if O'Neal intimidated Duncan.<br>
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Nobody needs to wonder any longer.<br>
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Duncan beat O'Neal whenever the Spurs needed him to. He did it with jump hooks, fall-away jumpers, up-and-under scoop shots, teardrop runners and spin moves to the baseline.<br>
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You could look it up on the videotape.<br>
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If that wasn't an MVP performance, then I've never seen one.<br>
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"He's done a great job on me all series long," Duncan said in a TV interview moments after the game. "I'd been fading away from him a little bit, and we went over some film. I just wanted to attack him."<br>
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It looks like it's time to get Kobe and Shaq some help if the Lakers intend to get back to the Finals.<br>
Mark J. Terrill /<br>
Associated Press <br>
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The other big question the Spurs faced down Thursday was their proclivity for folding in crunch time.<br>
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San Antonio brought a 3-2 series lead into the game, but the Lakers had owned the fourth quarter, even in the three losses.<br>
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That's why the biggest single plays of the entire game were Tony Parker's end-to-end sprint for a layin in with a second left in the third period and Duncan's teardrop 10-footer just seconds into the fourth.<br>
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Parker's shot followed a 3-pointer by Kobe Bryant and pushed the Spurs lead back to nine points. More important, it dulled the momentum the Lakers had gained and silenced the Staples Center crowd.<br>
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Duncan's shot let the Lakers know the Spurs weren't going to succumb to the fourth-quarter pressure this time.<br>
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Then, when Parker started doing a pretty fair impression of Tiny Archibald in the fourth, the rout was on.<br>
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"Tony Parker took over, hit a couple floaters, got some guys open, found shooters," Duncan said in his TV interview. "He's taken a lot of (stuff) from a lot of people, but he's kept his head up and stayed right with it."<br>
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The end of the Lakers dynasty came not with a bang, but a whimper as O'Neal sat sullenly on the bench for the final 4:34 and TV cameras caught tears streaming down Derek Fisher's face.<br>
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But Los Angeles' shocking ouster — not even Gregg Popovich could have believed the San Antonio Spurs would blow out the Lakers in a win-or-go-home game for the three-time champs — leaves the former champs with a lot of questions that need answering before next season begins.<br>
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Will Phil Jackson return for another season or give his heart a break?<br>
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Will the extra month of vacation time be enough for O'Neal to actually do some conditioning work in the off-season?<br>
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Will management determine the embarrassment of the Game 6 loss was enough to merit actually spending some money on free agents in the off-season? <br>
For now they have a few weeks to ponder their fate before they even have to think about what needs to be done to get back to the NBA Finals.<br>
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Who would've thunk it?<br>
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Senior writer Mike Monroe can be reached at his e-mail address, mmonroe@foxsports.com. <br>
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