Laker Circus Gets Extended Engagement

Against all odds, the greatest show on Earth, or whatever planet the Lakers are from, continues.

Commissioner David Stern showed up in San Antonio last week to note how well the playoffs were going, assuring everyone he was joking when he said his ideal Finals would be “the Lakers against the Lakers.”

Of course, his joke has been bouncing around the league for three weeks, and not everyone thinks it’s funny.

Actually, things are looking up for the league with great second-round series, capped by -- what else? -- the Lakers and Spurs, whose latest meeting became the stuff of legend after Kobe Bryant’s performance in Game 4 and the Mother of All Finishes in Game 5.

And, in good news for the league and Laker fans, your favorite team just made it through!

Let’s face it, who can compete with a marquee team led by megastars who are trying to choke each other half the time while performing a five-year high-wire act?

Around here, we’ve been rubbing our eyes every improbable step of their improbable way:

2000 -- To win the first title of the Shaquille O’Neal-Bryant era, they have to rally from 15 points down in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the Western Conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers.

2001--O’Neal and Bryant feud publicly all season but unite in the nick of time to win No. 2, going 15-1 to set a playoff record as Shaq decides Kobe is “my idol.”

2002--To get No. 3, they have to escape the Sacramento Kings in the West finals, winning Game 7 in Sacramento and coming from 20 behind in Game 4, winning that one on Robert Horry’s last-second three-point basket.

2003 -- Fifth in the West, on the road with Coach Phil Jackson leaving for an angioplasty and both small forwards, Rick Fox and Devean George, are out. Still, their reign ends only after Horry’s last-second three-pointer in Game 5 at San Antonio, which might have turned the series around, rims out.

2004 -- Their perfect storm hits with Bryant’s arrest, Bryant and O’Neal feuding again and owner Jerry Buss breaking off extension talks with Jackson, trying to keep Bryant, whom insiders expect to leave. Seemingly whirling down the drain, trailing the Spurs, 2-0, they tie it before Derek Fisher’s miracle shot, after Tim Duncan’s miracle shot, in another Game 5 in San Antonio. O’Neal, who announced Karl Malone and Gary Payton came for “one person, not two” and said this was his team, advising Bryant, “If he don’t like it, he can opt out,” starts calling Kobe “the best player ever.” Bryant has reportedly started talking about staying.

Meanwhile, trying for a Robert Horry Moment as a Spur, Horry barely draws iron on a three-point try at the end of Game 5’s third quarter, showing the magic doesn’t work in silver and black.

Of course, one slip can still mean Humpty Dumpty takes a big fall and all of Buss’ horses and all of his men can’t put the Lakers together again. If they go all the way, we still don’t know how many of them will be back.

In the annals of wacky champions, there never was a team such as this, not the Bronx Zoo Yankees, Babe Ruth’s 1927 Yankees, Da Bears, Da Bulls, Charlie Finley’s A’s or Al Davis’ Raiders.

We are in the presence of greatness, if not as a basketball team, certainly as an entertainment vehicle.

Everyone else pales in comparison. The Spurs, defending champions, were an afterthought in the series, even when they led, 2-0.

The national press guys paid courtesy visits to their practices to see Coach Gregg Popovich, whose standup routines were so funny, they began calling him Shecky Popovich.

However, that was only a warmup for Laker practice, where Jackson might be reviewing doomsday scenarios and Payton could be dropping hints about the identity of the teammate who wasn’t stepping up on that pick-and-roll.

Then there was the little matter of how they would handle Bryant’s absence, with Kobe first scheduled to be in court Monday and Tuesday, flying back here for Tuesday night’s Game 4, flying back to Colorado to be in court Wednesday and then going on to San Antonio for Thursday night’s Game 5.

This was Jackson’s nightmare scenario, the one he dreaded all along, which was why he kept hoping out loud that a trial date would be set months ago. However, hearings for the week wrapped up early Tuesday.

Before Game 3, Jackson acknowledged in his deadpan way, “This is as difficult as it could be.” For a Pollyanna of his stature, this could be translated as, “We’re so far up the creek, a forest ranger couldn’t find us.”

Before Game 4, Jackson was unusually somber, suggesting he still feared the worst. Bryant then had the greatest game of his career before we got to the real fireworks in Game 5, after which Bryant was so spent, they had to give him IVs.

The Spurs knew their place in this cosmos.

“Look at the market here,” forward Bruce Bowen said. “It’s always going to be something going on with the Lakers because it’s L.A.. It’s like the Knicks. The Knicks had a disappointing season, but it was always something about the Knicks in past years. That’s just something you have to understand, it comes with the territory and be prepared for it as much as you can.

“I think it’s OK. We don’t care about the hype or the hoopla [people saying] ‘Look at San Antonio this, look at San Antonio that.’

“People are going to say what they’re going to say.”

What chance did a mere basketball team have against The Laker Experience?