Lakers Get Third Degree

By Mike Bresnahan

March 7, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The Lakers fell back a step, knocked off balance again after a decisive victory over Detroit, pulled back toward ninth and 10th place in the Western Conference after a familiar ending against an equally familiar foe.

Another loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Lakers made it interesting in the first half but faded and fell to the Spurs, who outscored them by 17 points in the third quarter and won, 103-96, Monday at Staples Center.

Now 0-6 against San Antonio since the start of last season, the Lakers slipped to a combined 1-15 against the Spurs, Phoenix and Detroit over the same span.

Kobe Bryant kept it close with 43 points on 17-for-32 shooting, and he set up Devean George for an open three-point attempt that could have brought the Lakers to within 100-93 with 2:12 to play.

But George missed, Michael Finley hit a three at the other end, and the game belonged to the Spurs, who shrunk the Laker lead over Utah and Sacramento for eighth place to 1 1/2 games.

Balanced scoring? Finley, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker each had 21 points.

At the other end, Lamar Odom had 13 points and was the only other Laker to score in double figures besides Bryant.

The Spurs being what they are, defending league champs for a reason, thumped the Lakers in yet another poor third quarter for the home team.

Ginobili hit all four of his three-point attempts, Tim Duncan had four assists, and the Spurs took the quarter, 36-19. Bryant did hit a running 15-foot bank at the buzzer, but the score still didn’t bode well for the Lakers: 79-64, Spurs.

“We let them get away, third quarter,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “Again, a nemesis for us. We’ll address it again.”

There was even an appeal from Jackson to a traditionally cavalier crowd.

“Our crowd’s late getting back into the seats,” he said. “It’s not going to be a crowd sitting on the edge of their seats to start the third quarter, there’s no doubt about it. If they don’t get back early, we may be out of the ballgame by the time they’re back to their seats, the way we’ve been playing.”

Earlier in the game, the crowd seemed buoyed by Saturday’s victory over Detroit, cheering the scoreboard video visage of Jack Nicholson with a bit more gusto than usual, and booing “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria, Parker’s girlfriend.

But unlike the Golden State Warriors, who launched three-point shots against the Lakers apparently for shock value more than anything last Friday, the Spurs actually intended to make theirs, and did, hitting 12 of 23 (52.2%). Ginobili and Finley each made five of six.

“We’ll see if Friday night they can shoot at the same level with three-point shots,” Jackson said, referring to a rematch in San Antonio.

Jackson couldn’t complain about the referees, a favorite target of his throughout the season. Unlike some of the foul-plagued fests in which the Lakers have participated, the game breezed by, taking barely two hours to complete.

The Lakers had 14 free-throw attempts and the Spurs had seven, meaning the loss would have to be pinned on other areas, namely on a Laker defense that had fared so well in the second half against Detroit.

After allowing only 36 points after halftime against the Pistons, the Lakers surrendered 60 to the Spurs in the second half.

“They spaced us extremely well,” Bryant said. “They broke us down with penetration. They collapsed us, kicked out to the shooters and they knocked them down.”

The Lakers also had problems with aggressiveness and passing.

Odom made six of eight shots, a good shooting percentage but not enough volume in 45 minutes. He also had seven rebounds and four assists.

The Lakers had 19 assists as a team, 10 fewer than San Antonio, which had nine from Duncan and eight from Parker.

The Lakers earned a 45-43 halftime edge, although the Spurs weren’t quite the Spurs at the time.

Duncan finished with 18 points and the Spur bench, limited to five points in the first half, had 30.

Spurned again

The Lakers have lost seven consecutive regular-season games to San Antonio and play the Spurs again Friday:

Current home streak: Lost 4.

* Current road streak: Lost 3.

* Last home win: Nov. 28, 2003 (103-87).

* Last road win: Dec. 3, 2003 (90-86).

2005-06 LAKERS VS. SPURS