By
Billy
Witz
FOXSports.com
WITZ
ARCHIVE
SAN ANTONIO -- When Ron Artest swatted George Hill's 3-pointer into the crowd, Artest gazed at the audience as he admired his work. Then he gave it a stamp of approval.
Artest raised both arms, flexed both biceps and took turns kissing them.
The gesture served to deliver a message: We're still champs.
Yes, the Lakers were Sunday, eviscerating the San Antonio Spurs 99-83 in a game that was not remotely that close.
Their victory will certainly reinforce the popular notion that the Lakers -- not the Spurs, who have the runaway-best record in the NBA -- are the team to beat once the playoffs begin.
It's a compelling argument to make, particularly the way center Andrew Bynum is transforming them as a defensive tour de force.
But if the Lakers played like champs, they often enough carried themselves like chumps.
What's that phrase: Act like you've been there before?
The Lakers did not. If it was not Artest mugging for the crowd, it was Kobe Bryant sinking a jumper and turning to glare at the Spurs' bench and picking up a technical foul for barking at Manu Ginobili, Derek Fisher kvetching over foul calls with the Lakers up by 20 late in the fourth quarter, or Shannon Brown showboating with between-the-legs dribbles.
And then there was Bynum afterward, calling out the Spurs as quitters.
"I haven't seen that yet from San Antonio this year," Bynum said. "But their starters definitely quit."
Funny, but when the Spurs, trailing by 25 points, crashed the boards for four offensive rebounds on the same possession, that didn't smell like quit.
Actually, the Spurs' comportment was no different from the way they carried themselves two days earlier, when they were doing the throttling
