It was a tale of two halves for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, who dominated the rival Spurs at first, but then let it slip away.
Bryant and longtime rival Tim Duncan added another chapter to their seemingly endless stream of battles.
While the Laker scored 29 points with 12 rebounds and five assists, his Spurs counterpart collected 28 points and 17 rebound to lead San Antonio to a 103-91 comeback.
Bryant, who shot 12-of-27 from the field, had his team up by nine at halftime in a battle between the Western Conference’s best teams. But the Spurs rattled off 14 unanswered points to seize the lead in the third quarter, which they never surrendered.
Though the Lakers enjoyed a 48-35 advantage in rebounding, the Spurs had 16 steals to Los Angeles’ four. The game served as a preview of that year’s Western Conference Finals, where L.A. won in five games.
Kobe performances on this day in history:
A video posted by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Jan 23, 2016 at 8:49am PST
A video posted by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Jan 23, 2016 at 8:49am PST
