SPURS INSIDE LOOK: SAN ANTONIO UNABLE TO STAY AFLOAT AT END MISTAKES COSTLY IN LAST-MINUTE STUMBLE.

Byline: Joe Stevens Staff Writer

The San Antonio Spurs sometimes are maligned for being an excellent regular-season team that hasn't become an excellent postseason team.

The final two minutes of their 99-95 loss in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals will only feed the perception that when a sea of trouble comes near the Spurs, they drown.

The Spurs led 95-93 with 1:31 left when Stephen Jackson made a 3-point shot. But after that, San Antonio never scored, committed three turnovers and looked thoroughly out of sync.

Afterward, in their locker room, the Spurs were found wallowing over letting a chance to take a 3-1 lead on the Lakers get washed away.

``I can't put into words how frustrating it is to lose this game,'' Jackson said. ``They did what they had to do down the stretch, and we didn't. I don't know how we put this behind us, but we have to. This game, we needed to win.''

If the Spurs get maligned for not playing well in crunch time, then so does their star, Tim Duncan. The two-time league MVP finished with a game-high 36 points, but he had his worse moments in the fourth quarter.

Duncan shot 8 of 11 through the first three quarters and was 2 of 6 in the fourth quarter. Unlike the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, who got to the free-throw line three times in the final minute, Duncan didn't go to the line at all in the final minute.

``We didn't finish well when it was a one-point game,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ``On the other end of the court, Kobe got to the rim down the stretch. That was the difference in the ballgame.''

Duncan didn't sound too frustrated with giving away Game 4. Instead, he sounded frustrated with the officiating as the Lakers had 45 free throws, compared to the Spurs' 26.

``Forty-five free throws, there's not much you can do about that, when they get 20 more free throws than you,'' Duncan said. ``Other than that, I thought we were pretty solid.''

The Spurs had the ball with the score tied, 95-95, and a minute to play. But Duncan turned it over.

After Bryant made a free throw, the Spurs had a wobbly possession in which Duncan fell, forcing Jackson to throw up a 3-pointer to beat the 24-second shot clock.

``Basically, that's a turnover,'' Popovich said, ``even though it's not officially counted as one.''

Jackson fouled Bryant, who made two free throws to give the Lakers a 98-95 lead with 14.2 seconds left. Then, to underscore all of the Spurs' problems down the stretch, Tony Parker threw the ball away on an inbounds play, thus throwing away the Spurs' final hopes for a victory.

``It was a bad decision,'' Parker said. ``I was too much in a hurry to try to get it in.''

The Spurs gave away a 16-point second-quarter lead. They also watched the Lakers finish the second quarter with a 12-3 run and finish the third with a 16-3 run.

But even with those problems, Parker said he knew the Spurs' real problem.

``We just couldn't hit the big shots at the end,'' he said.

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Photo:

When Tim Duncan, bottom, lost a loose ball late in Game 4, he not only was covered by Devean George, his Spurs were done.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer