ANY OBJECTIONS TO AN ASTERISK NOW?

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

The head of NBC worried recently that a traditional network can never compete with the earthy dramas on HBO, which plays by looser cable- television rules.

May we offer a suggestion?

HBO has a hit with ``61*'' - the behind-the-scenes story of a baseball player who caught lightning in a bottle one year and made home-run history.

NBC should answer with ``99*'' - the saga of a basketball team that had everything go right one year and won a championship.

Those, of course, would be the 1999 San Antonio Spurs, who have been trying ever since to live down insinuations by Lakers coach Phil Jackson and others that their lone NBA title deserves an asterisk because it came in a season chopped nearly in half by a players lockout.

But so much for vindication after the spiritless Spurs' 111-72 loss to the Lakers at Staples Center on Friday night, which dropped them to 0-3 in the Western Conference finals and pushed them to the brink of goodbye.

These days, the harder the Spurs try to run away from the asterisk, the harder it bites at their heels.

This was a real asterisk kicking, excuse the premium-channel language. If only the Lakers deserved all the credit.

It was to be the night that center David Robinson showed up in full force and the night that forward Derek Anderson returned from an injury - the night we saw the real Spurs.

Well, Robinson showed up, avoided his recent foul trouble, led the Spurs with 24 points, dunking ferociously any time he couldn't hear Shaquille O'Neal's footsteps. And Anderson was in the starting lineup, prepared to shoulder his share of the load, even on one healthy shoulder.

Big difference any of that made.

Anderson missed all eight of his shots.

Forward Tim Duncan - second in the league MVP voting, just ahead of O'Neal - went 3 for 14, and 3 for 8 at the free-throw line, where he usually excels.

The Spurs, who depend on sharp 3-point shooting, went 1 for 12 from beyond the arc.

The Lakers had been magnanimous in saying the best-of-seven series wasn't over following their two wins in San Antonio, noting the Spurs are a team with a lot of pride, et cetera.

Their pride wasn't showing Friday.

``I'm not sure how confident we were throughout this game,'' said guard Avery Johnson. ``When the confidence is wavering a little bit, you tend to have a poor performance. ... This is just not the Spurs you're seeing.''

But these are the Spurs who showed up for a do-or-die game.

``It's the biggest game, probably, of my career so far,'' Duncan said, ``and to go out there and play like that, and give that kind of effort, that's bad.''

In theory, the Spurs began the series as the one NBA team that could look the defending champion Lakers in the eyes and not melt away. Most of this Spurs roster was around when they won the 1999 title. They could argue that they might have contended again in 2000 if Duncan hadn't been injured and missed the playoffs.

Presumably, the Duncan of Friday night isn't the Duncan they had in mind.

We'll see what Sunday afternoon brings, but if anybody sees a sign of life in these Spurs, they'd like to be the second to know about it.

``After a game like this, it's hard to argue'' that the Spurs still believe they can win the series, Robinson said. ``Anything I said would sound really stupid at this point.

``I thought we'd respond well of the losses. ... I don't know what to say.''

Say this sure feels different from '99*.

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Photo:

The Spurs got 24 points from a revived David Robinson, right, but others failed to produce to expectations.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer