Below is a running diary of the Lakers’ matchup against the San Antonio Spurs, with comments drawn from Mike Trudell’s @LakersReporter Twitter account, to ensure you’re covered from start to finish.
First Quarter
Duncan and Kobe exchanged hoops to get the Spurs and Lakers going tonight, after Kobe had a long hug/convo with Pop at midcourt.
Jordan Clarkson has already tied his career high for 3-pointers made with 4. He also has 4 assists in this first quarter.
Clarkson hit 5 3’s in the Rising Stars Challenge towards 25 points in that game, and has carried that mojo into this one. 4 3’s in 1 Q.
Second Quarter
The Spurs are on a little run, scoring the first 5 points of the 2nd Q to open a 38-30 lead into a time out at the 10:09 mark. West has 8.
Randle’s gotten to the rim for consecutive hoops, the 2nd on a give-and-go with Kobe, to cut the SAS lead to 48-42. 5:06 in the 3rd.
Methodical driving and kicking from San Antonio led to an 8-0 run, finally snapped by a Williams bucket. Spurs up 60-49 at halftime.
Third Quarter
After a series of dribble moves, Kobe converted a difficult baseline hook with his left, as Popovich called a time out w/SAS up 66-55.
Kobe’s first 3-pointer tonight gets him up to 16 points, the crowd freaking out every time he touches it despite LAL trailing 70-62.
D’Angelo Russell got the crowd on its toes with a pretty hesitation move into the paint plus the finish. LAL within 7 at 78-71.
Russell got to the bucket and dropped off a dime for Clarkson’s finish, as LAL trail 75-65 after 3 Q’s. Clarkson has 18 with 4 assists.
Fourth Quarter
Most of the crowd is standing after Kobe drained a baseline fadeaway after checking in moments earlier. Parker answered to keep SAS up 6.
OK … so, it looked like Gary Vitti just popped Kobe’s displaced finger back into place.
Kobe went over to Vitti, who turned away as Vitti snapped his finger back in, and Kobe simply walked back onto the court to resume play.
Kobe tossed in a leaner, in a weird motion with that freshly-popped finger, to cut the SAS lead to 4 with 1:05 left…
Final: SAS 119, LAL 113. The 82 games between Kobe (25 points, 4 boards) and Tim Duncan (12 points, 13 boards) over 19 years are over.
