Leading off.....
Shaquille O'Neal, understanding the newspaper business:
(In response to a reporter's question about team harmony)
"I think it's overrated, because I know you guys don't like your editors. You don't like your printers. You don't like your delivery people."

One more thing about Lakers/Spurs, and I'll never talk about this for as long as I live.........

I'm not sure it was any one thing that led to the Lakers eliminating the Spurs, but I thought Phil Jackson did a fantabulous job of making adjustments on defense after Games 1 and 2. The Lakers pretty much had the Spurs figured out after the series went 2-0.

Two of the biggest adjustments: 1) They totally neutralized the Spurs two primary ballhandlers -- Parker and Ginobili -- clogging the lanes and making them kick the ball out to shooters on the perimeter (and if you haven't noticed, Parker and Ginobili aren't exactly the best passers in the world), 2) They did a better job of doubling Duncan and anticipating where his passes were gonna go -- inducing a bunch of turnovers -- or forcing him to take tough, off-balanced shots. I guess the way a lot of writers put it is the Lakers made Duncan uncomfortable in the paint, and it really looked that way.

Overall, if you look at Duncan's numbers in the series, he wasn't THAT bad. But that's part of the problem. He's the Spurs' best player and although he wasn't bad, he wasn't great, either. This is a Spurs offense that was right stab in the middle of the league this season, 14th best, and if its best player isn't stepping up, it's pretty much shot. And that's before you consider the gi-mungous hole the Spurs defense put the offense in (a little more on that later).

Spurs field goal percentages
Game 1: 46.8%
Game 2: 52.2%
Game 3: 34.1%
Game 4: 40.5%
Game 5: 38.2%
Game 6: 30.2%

Filthy, yes, but you probably couldn't have expected this offense to shoot as well as it did in the first two games for the rest of the series. It just isn't that good and hasn't been that good for the last couple of seasons.

Here's a look at Duncan's offensive numbers against the Lakers.

Game 1
PTS: 30
REB: 11
FGA: 13-18
FTA: 4-11
AST: 3
TO: 7

Game 2
PTS: 24
REB: 7
FG: 7-13
FT: 10-14
AST: 3
TO: 4

Game 3
PTS: 10
REB: 13
FG: 4-14
FT: 2-2
AST: 2
TO: 6

Game 4
PTS: 19
REB: 10
FG: 5-13
FT: 9-12
AST: 8
TO: 2

Game 5
PTS: 21
REB: 21
FG: 7-15
FT: 7-10
AST: 2
TO: 7

Game 6
PTS: 20
REB: 11
FG: 7-18
FT: 6-8
AST: 2
TO: 2

So it wasn't like LA put the clamps on Duncan -- except in games 3 and 4 -- but you definitely see a slight drop in the volume and efficiency of his shots after Game 2. Half of that can be attributed to the Lakers' adjustments, half attributed to Duncan sucking it up.

(Even if he wasn't converting a high percentage of his shots into points, I still think Duncan could have, and should have, taken more of his team's shots. I don't care if it's the 4th quarter and he's 0 for his last 15 -- he's still the Spurs' best option on offense by a mile. He averaged 17 field goal attempts this season; I'm pretty sure it'd help the Spurs offense a lot if he took maybe four or five more shots a game, instead of giving those shots to low-efficiency guys like Bruce Bowen.)

Let's remember this, though. The Spurs offense isn't what let the team down. It performed poorly, yeah, but it's not like offense is what carried San Antonio into the playoffs this season. Its defense did -- and the Laker offense gave its defense a beating of a lifetime.

If you'll remember the Defensive Efficiency numbers I posted a while back, San Antonio's defense this season was by far the best in the league, allowing roughly 91 points per 100 possessions. That's a pretty freakin great total, and it makes the Lakers performance against it in this series stand out even more.

Ignore the Game 1 debacle; check out LA's field goal percentages the rest of the series.

Game 1
FG: 26-69 (37.7%)
FT: 22-33 (66.7%)
3PT: 4-10 (40%)
AST: 16
TO: 21

Game 2
FG: 38-74 (51.4%)
FT: 7-18 (38.9%)
3PT: 2-12 (16.7%)
AST: 18
TO: 15

Game 3
FG: 37-65 (56.9%)
FT: 25-40 (62.5%)
3PT: 6-16 (37.5%)
AST: 29
TO: 19

Game 4
FG: 36-72 (50.0%)
FT: 24-32 (75.0%)
3PT: 2-6 (33.3%)
AST: 21
TO: 6

Game 5
FG: 31-72 (43.1%)
FT: 6-13 (46.2%)
3PT: 6-15 (40.0%)
AST: 18
TO: 14

Game 6
FG: 29-65 (44.6%)
FT: 24-41 (58.5%)
3PT: 6-17 (35.3%)
AST: 19
TO: 11

(Not coincidentally, the Lakers shot better at home than on the road: 50.5% at home, 44.2% on the road)