Lakers have no answer for Tony Parker

Among the highlights of my breakdown on the Lakers 112-91 loss Tuesday to the San Antonio Spurs:

• The Lakers always missed Kobe Bryant. But their loss to the Spurs fully illustrates how their success beforehand mostly came off of adrenaline and everyone sticking to team offensive and defensive principles. That hardly was the case against San Antonio.
• Bryant declined to talk to The Times after the game, but Lakers Coach Mike Brown said he expects Bryant will miss his seventh consecutive game because of a sore left shin Wednesday at Golden State
• The Lakers couldn’t avoid getting stuck in screens against San Antonio, which played a large part in Tony Parker scoring 29 points Tuesday on 14-of-20 shooting.
• After Andrew Bynum posted 13 points in the first quarter, he soon became a non-factor. The troubling part is that he didn’t focus as much on rebounds and playing defense.
• Metta World Peace got into early foul trouble, which played a large part in the Spurs going on a 18-0 second-quarter run and the Lakers playing with poor tempo.

Among the highlights of Metta World Peace’s comments:

On getting in early foul trouble: “It was a mistake, but it’s not the time to make those type of calls. The same way we have to be locked in as players, you got to be locked in at refereeing. Don’t make calls like that. Just try to make better calls. “

Among the highlights on Ramon Sessions’ comments:

• On Parker: “He was hitting his mid-range jump shot. It’s tough to guard when he’s hitting his shots like he was.”
• On only having a half-game lead over the Clippers for the No. 3 seed: “We’re not worried about where we fall. Just play strong.”

Among the highlights on Steve Blake’s comments:

• On high number of turnovers: “We were just making bad decisions.”
• On Parker: We did our coverages better last time, but at the same time he wasn’t making the shots that he made tonight. If he’s making shots over our bigs with hands in his face, they can be tough to beat.
• On tussling with Manu Ginobili: “Just part of the game.”