Spurs at Lakers
The San Antonio Spurs are rounding into form and will look for their third straight win on a four-game road trip when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. San Antonio lost three of its first five games – including a rare home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans – but has started to display its typical form with back-to-back road wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. The Lakers have the worst record in the Western Conference at 1-7.
San Antonio point guard Tony Parker can feel teams gunning at his squad after last season’s NBA title experience. “We understand that every night they are going to come at us and we have to defend the title,” Parker told reporters. “You are going to get the best performance out of every team.” Los Angeles has allowed seven of its eight opponents to score more than 100 points and will be hard-pressed to even get back to .500.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, ESPN, KENS (San Antonio), TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE SPURS (4-3): Power forward Tim Duncan had 12 points and 13 rebounds in the victory over Golden State to raise his career point total to 24,992. Duncan, who is averaging 14.7 points, needs eight against the Lakers to become the 19th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points. The veteran has five double-doubles in the six games he has played in and had nine rebounds in the other.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (1-7): Guard Kobe Bryant is averaging 27.5 points but is shooting just 38.8 percent from the field. Bryant tallied 33 points in Wednesday’s loss to New Orleans, a contest in which Los Angeles was pounded inside and outscored 60-34 in the paint. “They got pretty much whatever they wanted in the paint,” Lakers coach Byron Scott told reporters. “There was no resistance whatsoever. It was just terrible. That was probably the worst defense we played from preseason all the way to this particular point.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. San Antonio won three of four from the Lakers last season.
2. Parker has scored 28 points in two of San Antonio’s last three games.
3. Los Angeles PF Ryan Kelly (hamstring) could return after playing just once so far this season.