Kobe: "They play with such a purpose..."

[Solid D]

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/gamece...0050104_LAL@SA

Bowen nets career-high 24 as Spurs crush Lakers


Jan. 4, 2005
SportsLine.com wire reports
SAN ANTONIO -- It's a rare night when Bruce Bowen dominates Kobe Bryant - on offense.

Bowen, whose defensive skills keep him in the NBA, scored a career-high 24 points and helped limit Bryant to 17 as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 100-83 on Tuesday night.

Afterward, Bowen just shrugged.

"I know it's a cliche, but it was just another game," said Bowen, ignoring the edgy rivalry that has grown between the teams that have won five of the last six NBA les. "If it was for the championship, then I'd be talking about how great it is."

San Antonio matched its franchise record by making 15 3-pointers.

Brent Barry made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points for San Antonio. Manu Ginobili had 13 and Tim Duncan scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

The Spurs moved the ball well against the Lakers' defense, both in transition and in their set offense. San Antonio had 30 assists, 10 of them by Tony Parker, on its 40 baskets in the game.

"Everybody tries to make an effort to find guys open," said Parker, who scored only two points in 29 minutes. "Kobe was staying in the lane, so Bruce was wide open. I tried to find him because he was hot tonight."

Bryant scored at least 40 points in the Lakers' three previous games, but Bowen held him to 12 below his average on 5-for-16 shooting.

"Tonight was a bit of a rude awakening," said Los Angeles coach Rudy Tomjanovich, whose team slipped to 16-13. "We tried our first option offensively and they were just too good defensively."

Bryant pointed at the Lakers' ineffective defense.

"Every time we tried to get back in it, they hit another big shot," Bryant said. "They just move the ball so well and space you out. They play with such a purpose it's tough to keep up."

Slava Medvedenko scored 16 points in the fourth quarter for Los Angeles.

Bowen made back-to-back 3-pointers in the game's opening minutes to give the Spurs a 12-6 lead. San Antonio made six of its 10 3-point attempts in the quarter, which ended with the Spurs ahead 32-18.

Tierre Brown made a jumper and Jumaine Jones a layup early in the second to make it 37-22, and then Los Angeles went without a field goal for nearly seven minutes.

By the time Bryant hit a 4-footer with 2:45 left in the half, the Lakers trailed by 27 points.

Los Angeles shot 4-for-22 (18 percent) in the second quarter, while the Spurs went 10-for-19 (53 percent) in the period and 57.5 percent in the half.

San Antonio's shooting cooled in the second half, but the Lakers couldn't get closer than 20 until the final minutes.

Notes

Bowen's previous high was 22 points, set Nov. 13 at Atlanta.
The Lakers' season low for a first half is 28 in a loss at Utah on Nov. 3.
San Antonio is now 6-1 against Pacific Division opponents, the only loss coming Sunday in Sacramento.
Los Angeles plays in Dallas on Wednesday night.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

"Everybody tries to make an effort to find guys open," said Parker, who scored only two points in 29 minutes. "Kobe was staying in the lane, so Bruce was wide open. I tried to find him because he was hot tonight."

First Team All-Defense my ass.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

"Everybody tries to make an effort to find guys open," said Parker, who scored only two points in 29 minutes. "Kobe was staying in the lane, so Bruce was wide open. I tried to find him because he was hot tonight."

First team All-Defense my ass.

[whottt]

I wish everyone would stop saying this was Bruce's career high...his career high game was game 2 VS the Lakers in 03 when he torched Kobe's ass for 27 points...in the playoffs. A big reason we were able to beat the Lakers that year.

[Kori Ellis]

"Career-high" refers to regular season. This goes in the record book as his "career-high" even though he has scored more in a playoff game.

[boutons]

most stat records distuinguish SEASON vs PLAYOFF

[T Park]

hence Whottt the reason they say playoff career high, and plain old career high.

I thought he torched someone else this season for 20 somethin.

[ChumpDumper]

Bruce's previous career reg season high was November against Atlanta (22)