Andrew Bynum hauled down a season high 30 rebounds as a Kobe Bryant - less Los Angeles Lakers side took down the Spurs in San Antonio .....
Metta World Peace scored a game high 26 pointswhile Andrew Bynum added 16 points and a season high 30 rebounds to block out the San Antonio Spurs “Big Three” and win 98-84 here at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Kobe Bryant did
not play the game with a shin injury but the Lakers sent a clear message that they can win without him.
Metta World Peace stepped up offensively and Bynum completely owned the defence to give L.A the easy victory.
San Antonio had an early 10-5 lead after Ramon Sessions started the scoring with a 3 pointer - that was be their largest for the game. The Lakers came back with a three pointer by World Peace, followed by a layup-and-one by Pau
Gasol to lead 13-10.
Two consecutive 3 pointers by Matt Bonner put the Spurs back up by 5. L.A then went on an 11-0 run to carve out a 24-18 edge. Stephen Jackson hit a 3 pointer for the Spurs with 44 seconds left in the quarter to reduce the Lakers lead
to 24-21 at the end of the first period.
The Lakers extended their lead to 35-28 early in the 2nd with back to back three pointers by Matt Barnes. They then went on a 9-0 run to extend their advantage to 44-31, capped off by a 3 pointer by Barnes. A layup by
Tony Parker with seconds left in the quarter brought the Spurs within five as L.A ended the first half leading 48-43.
L.A opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run to gain a 58-45 lead over the Spurs. Metta World Peace then exploded, scoring 9 of the 11 L.A points within 3 minutes to give the Lakers a 20 point lead. The Lakers ended the quarter
leading 75-59. L.A limited San Antonio to only 16 points in the 3rd period, while scoring 27 themselves. The Spurs were just 7 of 19 in the third quarter.
L.A continued their offensive onslaught in the 4th period, and a 3 pointer by World Peace extended their lead to 89-63, their largest for the night. The Spurs did come back with an 11-0 run to trail 74-89 with 3:43 left
in the game, but the lead was too big to completely over come. L.A held on to win 98-84.
Metta World Peace finished the game shooting 10-15 from the field and 5 of 8 from the 3 point line. Pau Gasol had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Ramon Sessions added 10 points and 5 assists.
Danny Green led the Spurs scoring with 22 points, but the Spurs had a poor night offensively. Tony Parker only scored 4 points of 2 of 12 shooting, and Manu Ginobili had 9 points. Tim Duncan was restricted to 14 points and 2 rebounds.
The Spurs actually shot better than L.A from beyond the arc, led by Danny Green and Matt Bonner. But they were outrebounded 60-33 in rebounds, including 16-1 in offensive rebounds, giving L.A much more second shot chances.
“They beat us to death. There's nothing else you can say about it. They rebounded well and were physical. It was a really poor performance execution wise and competitiveness wise” said Gregg Popovich after the game.
The Spurs have now lost two in a row and have slid back to 2nd place in the Western Conference. Lakers have won 2, and are comfortably placed in 3rd place in the West.
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