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By Mike Celizic <br>
NBCSports.com<br>
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San Antonio can’t afford to let L.A. force Game 7<br>
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The Los Angeles Lakers are one game away from elimination, and the temptation is great to say that Phil Jackson’s zen warriors have the San Antonio Spurs right where they want them — in a psychological full nelson. <br>
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THINK FOR A MOMENT about the Spurs’ situation after winning Game 5 to go up 3-2 on L.A. They blew a 25-point lead and managed to turn a blowout into a two-point nail-biter. Now they’re going to the Staples Center knowing that the one thing they don’t want to have to do is face the defending three-time champs in a deciding seventh game.<br>
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A realist has to say that if the Spurs lose Game 6, they’re not going to win the deciding game, either. The Lakers are champs for a reason, and the reason is that when they decide to take hold of a game, they do it. They have the best two players in the game. They’ve come back from fourth-quarter deficits in nearly every game. Give them a Game 7, and they’ll play like they’ve never played before. Do you want to bet on the Spurs in that situation, given their proven inability to stomp on the Lakers when they’re down? <br>
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So the Spurs can’t think they have two games to get the job done, and they can’t take comfort in their home-court advantage. The refs have been so partial to the home teams in this series it’s laughable, but, as we saw last season in the Lakers’ Game 7 win in Sacramento, the refs forget about the home-court whistle in the seventh game. Last year, you’d have sworn by the calls that the Lakers, not the Kings, had the home court.<br>
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No, the Spurs can’t wait to go home to finish the job. They have to win Game 6, close the Lakers out, end it now.<br>
That means approaching Game 6 as a must-win game, and there’s the rub. If the Spurs do that and lose, they’re toast in Game 7, because they’ve already lost a game they told themselves they had to win. On the other hand, if they approach Game 6 as a game they don’t have to win, they’re still in Game 7 with the Lakers playing at full throttle and the referees suddenly paying attention to every whine and whimper from Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson about the unfairness of the calls. <br>
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The Spurs say they’re not worried about how furiously the Lakers came back in the fourth quarter Tuesday. <br>
“We won, and that’s all that really matters,” said Tim Duncan, the Spurs — and the NBA’s — MVP. “We take everything positive out of this game. We won this game. If we can play like we did today, if we can get up 18-20 points, we’ll take the victory again.” <br>
Robert Horry of the Lakers reacts after missing a three-point shot in the final seconds as the Spurs' Bruce Bowen celebrates on Tuesday. The Spurs beat the Lakers 96-94 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals. Right. The Spurs take it as a positive that they coughed up 20 points of a 22-point lead. They take it as a positive that they started turning the ball over down the stretch, took some really dumb shots, and left Robert Horry unguarded to hoist what would have been the winning three at the buzzer, a shot that was in the hoop but rattled out. <br>
They have to think that way, and, if you look at it from the Lakers’ side of things, they might have a point. Psychology works both ways, and this was a cautionary tale for the defending champs, too.<br>
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The Lakers have come to expect that when championships are on the line, things go their way. The refs make the friendly calls, and when somebody hoists up the winning shot, it goes down. <br>
They have a bit of a shock Tuesday. First, there was Kobe Bryant being blocked and stripped by Bruce Bowen and then whining to the ref about how it should have been a foul. In L.A., it probably would have been a foul, but Bryant can’t be worrying about the calls; he should be worrying about getting open and making plays. <br>
Not long after that play, it was the sight of Horry stroking the shot that was supposed to win it. Those shots always go down for the Lakers, don’t they? That’s why they have all those rings. And this shot looked perfect, except the rim kicked it back out. If the Lakers lose to the Spurs, that could be the shot they look back on as the end of their run, as if the hoop itself was telling them their luck had run out.<br>
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If nothing else, the Lakers can’t kid themselves that they can simply turn it on when they want and overcome any lead. They can’t believe that the whistles will go their way and that the last-second shot will drop. No team, including the Lakers, can flirt with disaster forever and keep averting it.<br>
The Lakers’ biggest strength is their refusal to accept that. <br>
“People win championships for a reason,” said Bryant, looking utterly unconcerned about being on the brink of elimination. “We’re not going to just roll over.” <br>
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No, they’re not, which is why the Spurs have to wrap it up in Game 6. And if they don’t, no one’s going to give them a six-pack’s chance in a fraternity house of winning Game 7.<br>
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Mike Celizic writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in New York. E-mail him at Celizic@yahoo.com.<br>
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