Michael Ventre

Touche’?

No, 2-1.

The San Antonio Spurs should be proud of the shellacking they laid on the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday night — a 103-84 rout — which served as a forceful response to L.A.’s 30-point drubbing of the Texans Friday night at Staples Center.

But the Lakers are still in command, even if it didn’t seem that way as they trudged to the dressing room afterward while wincing over their worst loss of these 2008 playoffs.

It was beautiful to watch, if you enjoy witnessing efficiency. It was a little like watching one of those knife virtuosos at Benihana serve six people while flipping a shrimp into a kid’s mouth. In this one, Manu Ginobili did most of the slicing, posting a team-high 30 points after scoring 10 and 7 points, respectively, in Games 1 and 2 while canning only 5 of 21 shots in those contests.

The fans in San Antonio went wild. Brent Barry ran around pumping his fist. Ginobili grimaced in a show of controlled rage. Tim Duncan … well, one time his lip quivered, and he seemed really perturbed.

In short, the defending NBA champions looked like their old selves rather than just old.

In any NBA playoff series, momentum swings, and so does public opinion. After this, the Spurs — who had been given up for dead after Friday night’s massacre — will be viewed as revitalized, rejuvenated, renewed. Suddenly, they will be the heavyweight champ who got up off the canvas after a haymaker and went on to bloody the other guy. Comparisons will be made to their resurrection in the previous series against New Orleans.

But even as you might have guessed that the Spurs would have a furious retaliatory measure waiting for the Lakers when the series shifted to San Antonio, you also had to figure that the Lakers were due to submit a stinker.

Lamar Odom, who had been excellent in the first two games, hit only 2 of 11 shots and finished with seven points and five turnovers. Pau Gasol was 7-for-18. Derek Fisher was 1-for-4. Sasha Vujacic, whose nickname is “The Machine,” had four points on 1-for-5 shooting; apparently “The Machine” needs to be calibrated.

Actually, what the Lakers seemed to be missing the most after this debacle was an excuse about getting stuck sleeping on a plane.

Special feature Main attraction A look at the highs and lows of Lakers guard Kobe Bryant's career. NBCSports.com

The Lakers still have a 2-1 lead, though, and if they win Game 4 on Tuesday night in San Antonio they can go back to Hollywood on Thursday with a chance to close this out in five. The stars still align favorably for the team with the best record in the West, with the best player on Earth.

What the Lakers need to remember now is that the Spurs they will face Tuesday are not the same groggy ones who faded in Game 1 and blew a 20-point lead. Nor are they the dazed visitors who watched the Lakers dictate their every move in Game 2 like a bunch of border collies rounding up sheep.

The Spurs have awakened, which means from here on the going gets tougher.

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