Aldridge powers Spurs past Lakers

Send a link to a friend  Share

[December 12, 2015]  SAN ANTONIO -- LaMarcus Aldridge spent the first several weeks of his first season with a new team trying to assimilate.

He hesitated. He passed up shots. He failed to establish any rhythm.

Now, with more than a quarter of the season having passed, Aldridge is more comfortable as a San Antonio Spur after signing with them as a free agent over the summer.

Aldridge scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in just 27 minutes as the Spurs defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 109-87 Friday night, improving to 12-0 at home this season.

Aldridge made the Western Conference all-star team as a Portland Trail Blazer the last four seasons. He averaged 21 or more points the last five years but he has scored 20 points only five times this season and averages fewer than 16.
 


"When you are playing with a whole group of new players, it takes time to understand where your place is," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Sometimes I think he has deferred too much because he is trying to fit in. Usually, that's the right thing to do when you enter an organization. Any of us who has a new job defers in the beginning and tries to fit. I think he's slowly getting over that and becoming more demonstrative."

Guard Patty Mills scored a season-best 22 for San Antonio (19-5), converting 9 of 11 shots. Forward Kawhi Leonard added 16.

Rookie guard D'Angelo Russell led the Lakers (3-20) with a season-high 24 points while also contributing six rebounds and six assists. Guard Lou Williams scored 19.

Guard Kobe Bryant, making his first of two appearances in San Antonio in his final season, scored 12.

Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, returned to the starting lineup after a two-game demotion. His return was precipitated by a sprained ankle that forced starter Jordan Clarkson to miss the game after scoring 23 in Wednesday's overtime loss at Minnesota.

"He's more comfortable," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. "He has a lot of confidence right now."

San Antonio led by 17 with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Lakers chipped away for the next four minutes, and then cut the deficit to nine with a 3-point basket by Nick Young with 52 seconds left.

Mills turned the Lakers away, making three jump shots in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, and soon the Spurs were comfortably ahead.

Bryant hit his first four shots, all of them those famous spring-loaded jumpers, helping the Lakers take an eight-point lead with two minutes left in the first quarter. The Spurs responded by finishing the quarter with 12 straight points, highlighted by two Mills' 3-pointers and a back-door layup from Manu Ginobili courtesy of a pass from Boris Diaw.

[to top of second column]

Mills scored 13 in the half. Aldridge topped that with 16 points, including 14 in the first quarter.

"We need him to be aggressive," Spurs forward David West said. "He knows that. It's just taken a little time."

Russell and Williams scored 15 apiece in the half for the Lakers. Each made a 3-point basket during the final two minutes, enabling the Lakers to turn a seven-point deficit to two at the half.

Then the Spurs reached for something extra that the Lakers could not match.

"We knew at halftime, they had another gear or two that they could go to, let's see how we react to it," Scott said. "I thought our guys got a little frazzled. But that's a great team."

NOTES: San Antonio Spurs G Tony Parker did not play Friday, coach Gregg Popovich electing to give him the night off to rest. Ray McCallum started in place of Parker. ... Lakers starting G Jordan Clarkson missed the game with a sprained ankle. Coach Byron Scott said he does not think Clarkson will be ready to play at Houston on Saturday. ... Lakers G Kobe Bryant will play one more game in San Antonio, on Feb. 6, before his retirement at the end of the season. Barring the unlikely event that the Lakers make the playoffs, Bryant will retire with a 3-2 edge over San Antonio in playoff series won in which he participated. Bryant missed the 2013 series won by the Spurs with an injury. Bryant's 45 points against San Antonio in the 2001 Western Conference semifinals is a record by a Spurs' playoff opponent. "There aren't too many people who understand how you bring it night after night for all those years at that level," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He's one of those very, very few guys who did that."

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Back to top