The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 105-85 on Tuesday, extending a poor run of road form for the NBA Champions, who also lost Kobe Bryant to injury.
Tim Duncan had 25 points and 13 rebounds as the Spurs handed the Lakers their fourth straight road defeat, their first such run of losses since 2007.
“They were obviously wounded,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. “We played well tonight, and everybody needs a win against a good team.”
Four-time NBA champion Bryant exited the game with back spasms after falling in the third period.
Already nursing a finger injury on his shooting hand, guard Bryant had 16 points for Los Angeles (29-9) before leaving the court. Andrew Bynum was the Lakers’ top scorer with 23 points.
The Spurs (23-13) took a 53-41 halftime advantage before building a 20-point lead in the third. The Lakers battled back to 76-69 with 9:19 remaining before San Antonio closed the game with a 10-0 run.
For San Antonio, the win was just their fourth against a team with a winning record this season. Tony Parker had 22 points and six assists as the Spurs took their second straight overall.
Los Angeles turned the ball over 15 times leading to 27 Spurs points, while the Lakers mustered only 10 points off turnovers.
“They took our kids to school,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “They got easy shots and got themselves going. In the second half we got it to within six points and then we made some turnovers that put the game out of reach.”
In a matchup of two teams that dominated the previous decade, the Lakers were playing their fifth straight game without Pau Gasol, who has a hamstring injury.
Bryant did not play in the fourth and was coming off one of the worst shooting performances of his career on Sunday when he made just four of 21 shots against the Milwaukee Bucks.
PISTONS 99, WIZARDS 90
At Washington, Charlie Villanueva had 23 points and nine rebounds as Detroit ended a 13-game losing streak by beating Washington.
Richard Hamilton and Rodney Stuckey each scored 19 for the Pistons, who had not enjoyed a victory in a month. The Pistons defeated Golden State on Dec. 12.
Antawn Jamison led the Wizards with 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Randy Foye — who took over at point guard when Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the NBA — had 20 points and 10 assists.
GRIZZLIES 104, CLIPPERS 102
At Memphis, Tennessee, Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol each scored 24 points and Zach Randolph added 20 as Memphis snapped Los Angeles’ four-game winning streak.
The Grizzlies overcame Baron Davis’ triple-double, an 18-point deficit and a 36-minute delay caused by a water line break in the fire sprinkler system at FedExForum for their sixth consecutive home win.
BOBCATS 102, ROCKETS 94
At Charlotte, North Carolina, Stephen Jackson scored 16 of his career-high 43 points in the fourth quarter as Charlotte clamped down on defense after halftime to rally past Houston.
Surpassing his previous best scoring night of 42 set nearly six years ago with Atlanta, Jackson shot 15 of 22 and made 10-of-11 free throws while adding eight rebounds.
MAGIC 109, KINGS 88
At Sacramento, California, Dwight Howard had 30 points and 16 rebounds as Orlando used a big run to open the fourth quarter and beat Sacramento.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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