Kobe Bryant scored 22 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs 99-85 in a matchup of the Western Conference’s best teams that turned out to be a mismatch.
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.
Backup point guard Jordan Farmar returned after missing 18 games because of an injured left knee, and scored 14 points. 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, who shot 5-of-7 including 2-of-3 from 3-point range. “Now that he’s back, everybody falls into their natural positions and we are back clicking on all cylinders.”
Reserve Trevor Ariza scored 17 points to match his season high and Andrew Bynum had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers. Gasol was the only Los Angeles starter to play in the final period.
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˝ 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.
“We didn’t play very smart in the first half, gave them 15 minutes of bonus and ended up being down six,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That was the tale of the first half: just too many mental mistakes, foul-wise. In the second half, we spotted them two quick 3s with bad rotations and never caught up after that. The game was over at that point.”
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.
“We ended the half poorly and they got that six-point lead,” Duncan said. “Then they came out in the second half and hit two quick 3s, and it seemed to go downhill from there. I thought the effort was OK, defensively. But we had a couple of lapses that turned right into points and gave them a lead that we couldn’t get back from.”
