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"...The only truly shocking game of the playoffs so far was San Antonio's hopeless collapse against Dallas on Monday night, when the Mavericks came back from 18 points down to win the vitally important first game of the West finals by three little points, after trailing for all but the last 14 seconds of the game. It was a disaster.<br>
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The last second was bad enough, but the stunning collapse of the favored home team was utterly demoralizing to the proud and prancing Spurs, who self-destructed after Tim Duncan got his fifth foul. It was like watching the tortoise run down the hare, right in front of our eyes. Snap, crackle, POP. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Even Jack Nicholson had to feel a twinge of sympathy for a first-class team like the Spurs -- brought low by a seed of tragedy in themselves.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>
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Tim Duncan is an agreeable no-fun kind of guy who scored 40 points in a losing cause against a bone-tired Dallas team that had just finished playing seven incredibly savage, draining games against Sacramento, obviously the best team in the NBA until they lost the best player, unanimous all-pro Chris Webber, to a season-ending injury about half-way through the playoffs. That was it, once again, for the snake-bitten Kings, who have been the best team in the league for the last two years but got bush-whacked both times by crippling injury or wretched home-town officiating.<br>
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I weep for Sacramento, but so what? It was like betting on a three-legged horse. And if San Antonio hadn't blown that game against Dallas on Monday, they would almost certainly have been the Champions of the NBA this year.<br>
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And they May still be -- but things are different now, and the Spurs are suddenly looking a little weak, a little more vulnerable than they did after terminating the Lakers. Hell, all Don Nelson and his conquering thugs had to do was deliberately and continually foul the worst free-throw shooter on San Antonio's playoff roster every time he touched the ball, and sometimes even sooner.<br>
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<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>It was a crude and disgusting way to play the game</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, but it worked. The Spurs got rattled and taken rudely out of their game. They lost their rhythm, and that is usually fatal, especially in the playoffs. Dallas is now the smart-money favorite. Suddenly, this looks like a keenly competitive six- or seven-game series."<br>
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