Following the crushing defeat in Game One, the Spurs said all of the right (and predictable) things: Yes, it was a tough pill to swallow, but we’re a veteran team, and we’ll make the proper adjustments. No need to panic.
And because they’re the Spurs, we have no choice but to believe them.
No one expects anything to linger from the series opener and affect San Antonio tonight, least of all the Lakers. There’s a reason those guys are compared to robots. Execution = affirmative. Emotion = does.not.compute.
It will be interesting to see just how much longer Sasha can keep Manu in check, or to put it in another way, how much longer Manu’s injuries will keep him from being the real Manu. The Spurs will also be looking to right their horrid second-half shooting and decision making.
As for the Lakers, no one can predict which Kobe will come out of the gates – the vacationing one (as Phil Jackson put it in Game 1), or the bloodthirsty killer that took over the second half. Either way, it should make for riveting television.
