San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Kobe Bryant was efficient on the offensive end, totaling 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting with six assists, as the Lakers put the clamps on San Antonio in the second half of a 92-83 victory.
Lakers Lock Down Spurs In 92-83 Road Victory
Lamar Odom added 19 points with 13 rebounds, while Ron Artest chipped in 16 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, who won their seventh straight to kick off a five-game road trip. The Lakers are eight games in front of Phoenix for the top spot in the Pacific Division and hold the top seed at the moment in the Western Conference.
Manu Ginobili scored 24 points and George Hill added 21 -- but just one of those points came in the second half. Tim Duncan grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out six assists, but managed just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. San Antonio has lost two of three and dropped one game behind Oklahoma City into seventh place in the Western Conference playoff race.
“Not making our shots is one thing, but we also stopped during the second half and we didn’t move the ball as well,” Ginobili said. “We didn’t penetrate and kick as much as we did during the first. It’s true that we missed some open shots, but we didn’t play good defense either.”
San Antonio scored the first seven points of the final period with Matt Bonner setting his feet and finding all net from the deep right corner for a 73-71 lead. It didn't last long, as Jordan Farmar's long jumper gave the visitors the advantage once again at 75-73, and 5 1/2 minutes later the margin grew to double digits.
A 16-3 stretch capped by a short Pau Gasol turnaround and Bryant three opened an 87-76 edge with 3:29 to play.
“We simply made adjustments,” Bryant said. “In the first half we blew a lot of assignments, which was something we were trying to minimize as we had guys wide open in during our rotation.”
San Antonio held a 25-22 edge after one period and a 48-41 lead at the half thanks to red-hot shooting from Hill, who made 8-of-11 shots in the first half but missed all three of his second-half attempts.
The game started to change in the third period, as the Lakers rallied to claim the lead. The Spurs held an edge until Shannon Brown drained a top-of-the-key trey for a 63-63 stalemate with 2:08 to play. Brown squared up and buried another three moments later, and the margin stood at 71-66 after three periods thanks to a pair of Odom free throws in the closing seconds.
The Lakers made 45.6 percent of their shots and drained 10-of-20 from beyond the arc...San Antonio shot 37.5 percent from the floor, but did grab 14 offensive rebounds...The game featured five ties and seven lead changes...Gasol scored 10 points with 12 rebounds and Farmar chipped in 11 points...The Lakers have taken two-of-three games in the season series...Bryant moved past Alex English into 12th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
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