April 13th, 2008 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in ???????????? 
The Los Angeles Lakers and the word defense typically aren’t linked together in most conversations, yet that happened to be the case tonight; six Lakers scored in double-digits, while they clamped down on the San Antonio Spurs as they limited them to 32 second-half points, easily defeating them 106-85 Sunday at Staples Center.? The victory by Los Angeles pushed them to the #1 seed in the Western Conference playoff race with 1 game left in their season while San Antonio has 2 games left in their season.
The first half was?a half of attrition as both teams went into halftime knotted up at 53; however, the Lakers’ Derek Fisher scored 10 points during a 17-6 Los Angeles run to begin the third period, giving them a 70-59 lead.? Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant scored 7 points during the last 2 1/2 minutes of the quarter – including a 3-pointer at the buzzer – to make it 79-67 going into the fourth quarter.? The Lakers iced the game as they began the fourth period with a 19-5 blast which gave them an insurmountable?98-72 lead.
Los Angeles had 6 players in double-digits, led by Bryant with 20 points, including 3 treys, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and a block while Lamar Odom scored 17 with 14 rebounds and?4 assists; Pau Gasol recorded a double-double as he added 14 with 11 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.? San Antonio was led by Tony Parker with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while Tim Duncan scored 16 with 12 rebounds and 2 assists.? Los Angeles (56-25) hopes to retain their #1 seeding as they remain home to host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday while San Antonio (54-26) travels north to Sacramento to take on the Kings Monday.
