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SAN ANTONIO, Texas: The Los Angeles Lakers handed the defending
champion San Antonio Spurs their first home defeat of the playoffs
Tuesday to take a stranglehold on their National Basketball
Association semifinal series.
NBA Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant scored 28
points with 10 rebounds as the Lakers held off the Spurs 93-91 to
take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference final series.
The Lakers will try to close out the series and
book their berth in the NBA finals when they host Game 5 in Los
Angeles on Thursday.
Lamar Odom, who struggled through a dismal Game
3, scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Pau Gasol added
10 and 10 for the Lakers, who shot 44 percent from the field.
Tim Duncan scored 29 points with 17 rebounds and
Tony Parker chipped in 23 points for the Spurs, who didn’t go
quietly.
Tony Parker’s fastbreak layup in the wake of a
goaltending call on Odom cut the Lakers lead to 93-91.
On the next possession, the Spurs forced a
jump-shot miss by the Lakers that went out of bounds off the leg of
Robert Horry.
That gave the Lakers the ball back with two
seconds on the shot clock, but Bryant missed a jump shot to give the
Spurs one more chance with 2.1 seconds to play.
Horry inbounded the ball to Brent Barry, who
pump-faked once before throwing up a wild 3-pointer under pressure
from Derek Fisher at the buzzer that was wide right.
“Fish came from the weak side and I didn’t
see him until I turned, and by then it was too late,” Barry said.
In the aftermath, the Spurs said that despite
some apparent contact, the lack of a foul call on the play was
correct.
“It wasn’t a foul,” said San Antonio coach
Gregg Popovich. “If I’d been the official, I wouldn’t have
called a foul.”
Added Spurs star Tim Duncan: “You’re not
going to get that call, they’re not going to make that call.
“[Barry] made the right play, he knows
they’re not going to make that call—he’s trying to get a good
look at the basket and make a clean shot.”
Barry finished with 23 points for San Antonio.
“We wouldn’t have had a chance if it
hadn’t been for Brent tonight,” Popovich said. “He was great,
not just because he made some shots but he played a good floor game,
good ‘D’.”
The Spurs started the fourth quarter on a 5-0
run, including Barry’s 3-pointer from the top of the key, but the
Lakers still led 77-75.
-- AFP
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