Lakers breeze to 99-85 victory over Spurs

[January 26, 2009]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A matchup of the Western Conference's best teams turned out to be a mismatch.

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers routed the San Antonio Spurs 99-85 Sunday.

The win was the fourth straight and 14th in 17 games for the Lakers (35-8), whose .814 winning percentage is the best in the NBA although the defending champion Boston Celtics (37-9) lead them by a half-game in the overall standings by virtue of their 124-100 victory over Dallas earlier Sunday.

Trevor Ariza came off the bench to score 17 points to match his season high, Andrew Bynum had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Jordan Farmar added 14 points for the Lakers. Gasol was the only Los Angeles starter to play in the final period. Lakers reserves outscored their San Antonio counterparts 39-32.

Tony Parker had 19 points and six assists and Tim Duncan added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs (29-14), who lost for just the fourth time in their past 18 games. Neither played in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers outscored the Spurs 10-2 to start the fourth quarter for an 89-68 lead, and the Spurs didn't pose a serious threat after that.

Bryant and Derek Fisher made 3-pointers and Bynum added two free throws to begin the third quarter, giving the Lakers a 59-45 lead, and a three-point play by Gasol made it 68-53. It was 79-66 entering the final period.

Farmar, returning to action after missing 18 games because of an injured left knee, outscored San Antonio 7-2 by himself to give the Lakers a 40-34 lead. The Spurs responded with a 7-0 run before the Lakers outscored them 11-4 to finish the second period for a 51-45 halftime lead.

Bryant scored eight points in the first 6 1/2 minutes to help the Lakers take a 16-9 lead, but he wouldn't score again until making a pair of foul shots with 3:42 left before halftime. Michael Finley made two 3-pointers to spark a 14-6 run to finish the first quarter, putting the Spurs on top 23-22.

Notes: Lakers coach Phil Jackson taped an interview Friday with Magic Johnson, a part-owner of the team, that was shown at halftime on ABC-TV. Before the game, the 63-year-old coach cleared up confusion stemming from the interview that next season would be his final one, saying: "Everything's the same as it always was." Jackson has often said he's going year-to-year without a definitive retirement plan. ... The Lakers and Spurs have combined to win seven of the past 10 NBA championships. "We've had a long rivalry with these guys," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We've beaten them up at times, they've beaten us up at times." ... The Lakers have played an NBA-high 26 home games and a league-low 17 road games. After entertaining Charlotte on Tuesday night, they'll play 23 of 31 games on the road. ... The Spurs have played 24 home games and 19 road games. This game marked the beginning of a stretch where they play 11 of 12 on the road.

[Associated Press; By JOHN NADEL]

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