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Not even a hard-fought loss against a longtime rival did little to brighten the mood of one of the more tumultuous seasons in the storied history of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tony Parker scored 24 points and the San Antonio Spurs handed the slumping Lakers their fifth straight loss with a 108-105 victory Wednesday night.
Manu Ginobili added 19 points and Tiago Splitter and Stephen Jackson had 14 each for San Antonio (28-10), which has won 11 straight at home. Splitter also had a career-high 14 rebounds.
Kobe Bryant had 27 points, Metta World Peace added 23 and Earl Clark 22 for Los Angeles (15-20). Bryant was 10 for 24 from the field, missing a 3-pointer on his final attempt that would have tied the game. Clark missed a follow-up 3 off a long rebound…
Leonard finished with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot in 33 minutes while primarily guarding Bryant and World Peace.
”Kawhi Leonard was the start of the show as far as I’m concerned,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ”He had a great night and is getting better and better defensively and starting to find his way offensively. I thought that was great.” …
Lakers G Steve Blake (abdominal surgery) missed his 28th game of the season. Howard (shoulder), Gasol (concussion) and Hill (hip) also sat out the game. The Spurs had every player on their current roster active.
— Reported by Raul Dominguez of the Associated Press
