Lady Luck shines best on Lakers
SAN ANTONIO — Tim Duncan threw the ball up, fell down and heard the cheers. From his hands and knees, he looked to the San Antonio bench with wide eyes and asked, “Did it go in?” Told that it did, he ran to the sideline and was mobbed by teammates.
Only it wasn’t over yet.
Derek Fisher made his own spectacular buzzer-beater, swishing an 18-foot jumper off an inbounds pass with 0.4 seconds left that gave the Los Angeles Lakers a 74-73 victory Thursday night for a 3-2 lead in their second-round series.
The Spurs filed a protest after the game, claiming the clock did not start quickly enough after Fisher caught it. One of the three officials triggers the start with a wireless device on his belt. A neutral scorekeeper does, too, as a backup.
“I think it definitely started late,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.
Pending an improbable reversal, the Lakers head home for Game 6 Saturday night having won three straight.
San Antonio, which had a 17-game winning streak ended in Game 3, had its 17-game home winning streak snapped by this loss. The Spurs also are facing elimination, something that didn’t happen during championship runs last year and in 1999.
They thought they’d avoided it again on Duncan’s shot, an off-balance 20-footer while falling to his left, his second amazing basket from nearly the same spot in the final few minutes. All that remained was defending one more play.
After three timeouts, Gary Payton was ready to pass to Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant. The Spurs had them covered, leaving Fisher “extremely open,” he said. He caught the ball, sank the shot over Manu Ginobili, then ran off the court in celebration.
“I just wanted to get out of there and not give them an opportunity to think that we didn’t believe it went in,” Fisher said.
Knowing the play had to withstand a video review to determine whether he let go in time, Fisher stopped in the tunnel and watched a television with paramedics to see what officials would decide.
Once the ruling was announced, a Spurs assistant slammed his clipboard on the scorer’s table. Stunned fans came out of their silence with boos, especially when a replay showed how close it was.
“One lucky shot deserves another,” O’Neal said.
The winner of Game 5 in a best-of-seven series tied at 2 has gone on to win 96 of the previous 115. The 2002 Lakers were the last to buck that trend, against Sacramento. The 2003 Lakers were ousted by San Antonio in six games.
Around the league
Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns will be invited to play for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, becoming the latest addition to a constantly changing and younger roster, two USA Basketball sources said. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Stoudemire, the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002-03, will be asked to play in Athens. The decision to invite Stoudemire was first reported by ESPN.com. The 21-year-old joins LeBron James, and Shawn Marion as the newest additions to an American team that will be without many of the top players originally selected or invited… . Commissioner David Stern said he reviewed a workup of the 2005 playoff schedule during his flight to San Antonio for Game 5 of the Spurs-Lakers series. It includes 14 days for a full series, down from as many as 17 this year, and less waiting time between rounds.
Stephon Marbury