Lakers Defense Too Much For Spurs

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points in 32 minutes, Pau Gasol added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Lakers beat the Spurs 99-85, avenging their one-point loss in their previous game on Jan. 14 in San Antonio.

This game is supposed to be a matchup of the Western Conference's best teams but it turned out to be a mismatch. The Lakers defense proved to be too much for the Spurs to overcome, holding San Antonio to 37.5 percent shooting from the field.

After a month of playing short-handed, the Los Angeles Lakers are back to full strength. Backup point guard Jordan Farmar returned after missing 18 games because of an injured left knee, and scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting including 2-of-3 from the 3-point range.

Luke Walton played in his third game after missing nine with an injured foot, and Lamar Odom (knee) and Sasha Vujacic (back spasms) were also sidelined for brief periods.

"We missed him a lot. He makes our second unit go, he's the motor," Bryant said of Farmar. "Now that he's back, everybody falls into their natural positions and we are back clicking on all cylinders."

"It [Jordan's return] helps us a lot. Jordan obviously has attributes -- the speed and the quickness. Those are things that we missed, that tempo change in our game, " Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

Farmar entered the game late in the first quarter and played almost seven minutes in his first action since Dec. 19. He returned late in the third period and played another 10 1/2 minutes.

Andrew Bynum had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and four block shots. Reserve Trevor Ariza scored 17 points to match his season high. Odom contributed 6 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes.

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 18 games. Neither played in the fourth quarter.

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Spurs beat Lakers 112-111 on Mason's 3-point play

The first meeting between the Western Conference finalists last season was almost a repeat of the Lakers' win the other night in Houston. The Lakers rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter, taking a two-point lead when Kobe Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left.

But Roger Mason hit a jumper with 10 seconds left and made a free throw after being fouled by Derek Fisher. The Lakers had a chance to win the game, with the Spurs just leading by a point, but Trevor Ariza was called for traveling on their last possession with 0.8 seconds left in the game, and the Spurs beat the Lakers 112-111 on Wednesday night.

Kobe Bryant had a very efficient game with 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting with 10 rebounds and seven assists in 42 minutes. Pau Gasol, rebounding from two previous ineffective games, played well offensively in this game, scoring 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting but had only five rebounds and an assist in 32 minutes.

Andrew Bynum had 18 points and just three rebounds in 35 minutes. Derek Fisher added 16 points in 36 minutes.

Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom and Josh Powell contributed 10, 9, and 6 points, respectively, off-the-bench.

Manu Ginobilli topscored for the Spurs with 27 points. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker both contributed 20 points. Roger Mason scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Already playing without their backup point guard, Jordan Farmar, the Lakers had a brief scare when Derek Fisher left with longtime trainer Garry Vitti to the locker room after a collision with San Antonio's George Hill on a drive. He missed almost 4 1/2 minutes of actual game time but emerge back with 3:37 left in the fourth quarter.

With Sasha Vujacic day-to-day because of back spasms, the Lakers were forced to use Kobe Bryant at point guard until Fisher returned.

The Spurs and Lakers have been rivals over the last 10 years. The Spurs have won four NBA championships during that span while the Lakers have won three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002.

The two teams have met in the playoffs six times in the last 10 years, with the Lakers having won the series four times, including a 4-1 series win over the Spurs in last season's Western Conference finals.

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Pau Gasol is the key to Lakers dominance

There is no doubt that having Kobe Bryant in their lineup makes the LA Lakers a great team. But Bryant alone can't make this team win a championship. One great player can't beat five opposing players, even with lesser talents, playing on the same hard court for 48 minutes.

Even the great Michael Jordan couldn't have won a championship without another great player, Scottie Pippen.

Let's see the great NBA duos (or trio for the Spurs and Celtics and quintet for the Pistons) in the past two decades:

Jordan had Pippen in Chicago. They made the Bulls the most dominant team in the 1990s and had six championship rings together.

David Robinson had Tim Duncan earlier and Duncan had Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker later in San Antonio. And they made the Spurs one of the best teams of the 2000s in winning four championships between them.

Shaq had Kobe in LA Lakers, previous edition. And they made the Lakers the most dominant team early in this decade by winning three consecutive titles.

Chauncey Billups had four other Pistons in Detroit. And they won a championship together.

Dywane Wade had Shaq for one championship ring beating a good Dallas Mavericks team featuring just one MVP player, Dirk Nowitski.

Last year, Paul Pierce had Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, and the "big three" won the championship last year beating a Lakers team with one great player and another all-star material who played very well in sweeping through the Western Conference playoffs but seemed to got "lost in Spanish translation" in the NBA Finals.

And Kobe?

He had Caron Butler in 2004 and they failed to make it to the playoffs.

He had Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, and young Andrew Bynum. They made the playoffs but lost in the first round for two years.

Last year, he had Pau Gasol for half of the season. And immediately, the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals. Unfortunately, they lost to Boston's "big three."

Now that Gasol would be playing a full season with the Lakers, the team is expected to achieve what it failed to accomplish last season--win that elusive NBA title!

But they can't do that while Gasol is playing just a sidekick or an afterthought to Kobe. He has to dominate the same way, or at least close to the way, Kobe is dominating in his position.

Gasol is a very good player specially now that he's playing mostly at forward position in a very balanced Lakers team. But he doesn't always play aggressively.

This season, Gasol averages 17.8 points on 55.4% shooting, 9.4 rebounds, and 12.1 field goal attempts per game. For comparative purposes, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs, averages 20.4 points on 51.6% shooting, 10.1 rebounds and 15.5 field goal attempts.

Duncan is attempting more shots despite having two other stars in Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. In San Antonio, you wouldn't know which of their three stars is their first, second or third option on offense--all of them are good, reliable and aggressive.

Of course, the Lakers have more wins than the Spurs. But can they win important games against championship-caliber teams while Gasol is playing just a "second option" to Bryant?

Their records show they can't!

To be a championship-caliber team, the Lakers need more offensive contribution from Gasol. He shouldn't defer to Kobe specially on close games. Their recent victory against Golden State showed how Gasol can be dominating if he stays aggressive specially in closing out games.

He needs to be as aggressive as Duncan and take more than 15 attempts per game. The Lakers haven't lost a game this season with Gasol taking more than 15 shot attempts.

In their six losses this season, Gasol took less shots (10.8 on average) than his tally this season while Bryant is taking the slack by shooting five more shots (25.5 per game) than his average (20.1) this season.

This is not indicative of "Bryant shooting too much to the detriment of his team." In fact, he scored more than his average (32.2 in losses vs. 27.0 average this season) in the Lakers' six losses while Gasol scored less in losses (15.7 average) than in wins (18.3)

Can you blame Bryant for scoring 39 points on 14-of-22 field goal shooting while Gasol only had 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting in their last loss against a New Orleans team that featured a shorter frontcourt?

Clearly, it's Pau Gasol that needs to be more consistent to provide the Lakers a "one-two punch combination" that Shaquille O'Neil was so proud of during his three-peat with Bryant. It was Shaq looking at Kobe as the "two" in his boxing analogy and claiming the Lakers to be "his team" that ended their run.

The Lakers are already dominant with Kobe Bryant, probably the best player in this generation. But it takes more than one great player to make a championship team!

If you still don't believe that, ask LeBron James and Dirk Nowitski, who both went to the NBA Finals but lost to better teams featuring more than one great player.

Miami's one-two punch of Wade-and-O'Neil vs. Nowitski's Mavericks in 2006 NBA Finals...

And San Antonio's big three of Duncan-Parker-Ginobili vs. James' Cavaliers in 2007...

It both instances, one is less than two or three...

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Lakers is the winningest team in the NBA

The Los Angeles Lakers has the best winning percentage record in the NBA. Since 1949 the Lakers have won 2,926 games in 4,753 games for league-best 61.6%. The number two team, Boston Celtics, that joined the league two years earlier, had 2,883 wins against 1,981 losses (59.3%) while the third-best, San Antonio Spurs, had 1,942 wins in 3,359 games (57.8%).

Although the Celtics has won more championships with 17 titles, against 14 championships for the Lakers, the Lakers franchise has more Conference and Division titles. The team had 16 conference and 30 division titles while Boston had only 8 and 26 respectively. The Celtics' better championship record is mainly due to their dominance in the 60's. Bill Russel, who was peerless during that period, led them to 8 straight championships from 1958 to 1966. Russel also led them to 2 championships in 3 seasons from 1966 to 1969 as a coach.

The Lakers have played in the playoffs for 55 seasons compared to 46 playoffs for the Celtics. The former had only missed the playoffs in 1958, 1975-76, 1994, and 2005, the year they traded Shaq to Miami.

Click here for the complete statistics.

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