SAN ANTONIO VS. LOS ANGELES PHILADELPHIA VS. MILWAUKEE

Thursday, May 31 The Spurs' ship is sinking By Marc Stein Special to ESPN.com LOS ANGELES -- In our last dispatch from The Greatest Western Conference Finals Ever, we unearthed the dirt on David Robinson's deeply rooted jealousy of Tim Duncan. We were also kidding. David Robinson has faded to the background against Shaq and the Lakers. In this entry, sadly, there are no jokes. No wink-winks to clear Robinson's good name or mask the fact that these Western Conference Finals won't exactly be plugged in as an instant classic on the White Shadow network. We are here to prep for Friday's Game 3 with a round of Blame Game, and Robinson fans probably won't want to follow along. Because ... You Know Who has helped drag his team down into this 2-nil predicament. Yup. Maybe the most admirable guy in the whole league has done more dragging than any other Spur. If there is a finer human being in the Association, we'd like to meet him. During the last round, in fact, Robinson was crowned as the finest sportsman in the NBA. Of course, this is the round San Antonio really needed an award-winning Mister Robinson. Or, at the very least, an active 7-footer who could stay on the floor against the angry gargantuan he so famously stiffed for that autograph. Instead, Robinson's struggles -- reminiscent of his other Worst Western Conference Finals Ever opposite Hakeem Olajuwon in 1995 -- have reduced the Spurs to a one-tower team through two games. Little wonder they drop-kicked both to a juggernaut that hasn't lost a game of any kind for 53 days. In Game 1, Robinson had a whopping two points after halftime and earned only 30 minutes of floor time from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. That's about what he usually gets, minutes-wise, but you would have expected to see more Robinson against the Lakers, given how the matchup unfolded two springs ago. Then came more of the unexpected. Robinson, at the next day's practice, announced that he planned to talk to Pop about his minutes. "I'm going to have to be on the floor a lot more," Robinson said, sounding, of all things, sort of Laker-like ... pre-streak edition, of course. Cue Game 2, when the old deckhand was out there three minutes less, making more mistakes. In an eye-blink span of one second, barely into the second half, Robinson picked up his third and fourth fouls. Actually, he was arguing with a referee about the third foul when Horace Grant drove to the rim. Robinson tried to catch up to the play and wound up snagging only foul No. 4. And a seat on the bench for the rest of the third quarter. In the post-game autopsy, the Spurs insisted that their errant 3-point shooting -- 9-for-31 overall, 4-of-16 specifically Monday -- was the main reason they're staring at a nil-2 deficit. That's the gentlemanly account. What no one volunteered is that Robinson's absence not only enticed the Lakers into some rare double-teaming of Duncan, but it also made Shaquille O'Neal a primary help defender. Duncan, after a 25-point first half that was no less wondrous than Kobe Bryant's Game 1 dominance, suddenly found himself dealing with a new, autograph-scorned obstacle. In the fourth quarter, while the Spurs were closing with a 3-for-15 hail of bricks, TD added four turnovers. Robinson, a stand-up Midshipman, rapped himself for what "ranks as one of the dumbest things that I've ever done." He then tried to insist that "if you want to be a champion, you'd better figure out how to get yourselves out of these types of holes." "We did it last time," Robinson reminded, "and I still believe in this team." See. Someone does. Last time was the aforementioned 1995 showdown with Dream, right after Robinson was named league MVP, in which San Antonio lost the first two games at home, won two in Houston and still lost the series by 4-2. They're facing a better foe now, incidentally. An inarguably hotter opponent, too. Either way, the prospect of a '95 repeat is not what had the pundits pegging this Spurs-Lakers showdown as a potential for-the-ages affair. It was the history between the teams, San Antonio's 1999 sweepage of LA in Round 2, and how mortal O'Neal looked trying to cut through both of the towering twins. In Shaq's breakthrough last spring, remember, he didn't have to hurdle the skyscrapers. Duncan got injured before those playoffs started. Now, though, Shaq is not only halfway toward sweeping them right back -- he's gone Big Huggy Bear on us. During games, on off days, whenever, we haven't seen O'Neal and Bryant cross paths without slapping hands, extending hugs or slapping backs. How scary does this Shaq-speak sound: "It's all about winning. ... I was ordered to play great defense against two great big men [and] I do what I'm told. ... I don't care who scores. ... I'm trying to get my jersey up there [in the rafters] with Mr. West's and Mr. Chamberlain's." “ David had some tough fouls that probably were unnecessary that really put him in a tough spot. We want to play him more. We expected him to play 35 to 38 minutes but we couldn't do it. It is unfair to say that David has to score more. There were a lot of people who need to score more. ” — Gregg Popovich Spurs coach Robinson, running out of time to respond, better answer Friday night. The Spurs obviously aren't shooting it like the only team in the league that hits 40 percent of its triples, as seen during the regular season, but Robinson is part of the problem there as well. The Spurs' chafing perimeter marksmen are under more pressure than normal to hit because Duncan hasn't been getting enough help on the front line. "David had some tough fouls that probably were unnecessary that really put him in a tough spot," Popovich said. "We want to play him more. We expected him to play 35 to 38 minutes but we couldn't do it. "It is unfair to say that David has to score more. There were a lot of people who need to score more." To a degree, all of the above is unfair. The Spurs wouldn't have gotten back to this level without Robinson, even Robinson at 35, because Duncan wouldn't have stayed in San Antonio without his not-so-jealous teammate's intervention. They also would have never won the first championship if Robinson didn't so willingly let Duncan take over his team. Yet Robinson's performance remains a microcosm of the series so far: We were banking on more. The only solace, for Alamo Nation, is that Robinson has an opportunity to make it up to his people over the summer, when the Spurs fall in line with the other 27 teams in this league who aren't sure how they're going to deal with Hollywood's best buds. Robinson is a free agent come July and will be asked to take a significant pay cut to make room for the re-signing of Derek Anderson and the search for some more Lakers-specific help. By then, Robinson won't be dragging or dumb. Trust us. Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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