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San Antonio Spurs’ guard Tony Parker (left drives to the basket as Minnesota Timberwolves’ guard Ricky Rubio defends during the first half of their NBA game at AT&T Center, yesterday. RIGHT: Roy Hibbert (right) and David West (21) of the Indiana Pacers defends the shot by Cody Zeller (40) of the Charlotte Bobcats during the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, yesterday.
OKLAHOMA CITY: The return of Kobe Bryant hasn’t proved a panacea for the Los Angeles Lakers, who were thumped 122-97 by NBA Western Conference rivals Oklahoma City yesterday.
Kevin Durant scored a game-high 31 points and added eight rebounds and five assists for the Thunder, who have won all 11 of their home games this season.
Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook both had double-doubles. Ibaka scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Westbrook scored 19 points and delivered 12 assists.
Reggie Jackson chipped in 19 points off the bench for the Thunder, who notched their 13th victory in their last 14 games.
The Lakers, meanwhile, fell to 0-3 since Bryant returned last week for the first time since tearing his left Achilles tendon in April.
Bryant finished with 13 assists, but turned the ball over seven times and scored just four points in just over 23 minutes.
Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said it would take time for Bryant to find his top form, and to balance his duties as scoring threat with those of a point guard keeping the Lakers offense going.
Bryant has inherited the latter role with all three of the Lakers’ true point guards -- Steve Nash, Jordan Farmar and Steve Blake -- on the injured list.
“He’s got to do both,” D’Antoni said of Bryant’s dual role as scorer and distributor. “And he knows that. He’ll get better every game, I think he’s gotten better every game.”
D’Antoni also praised big man Pau Gasol, whose publicly expressed concerns about his role in the offense were greeted this week by an admonition from D’Antoni just to “play harder.”
“I thought Pau played well tonight,” D’Antoni said of the Spaniard, who scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. “He was aggressive, which we have to have.”
Nick Young drained four three-pointers en route to a team-high 17 points for the Lakers, who have allowed 100 or more points in six straight games.
Defensively, D’Antoni said, his team needs to be “tougher, saltier, grittier.”
A fast-break layup by Bryant brought the Lakers within 25-20 with just under four minutes left in the first quarter. However, a four-point play from Durant highlighted an 11-2 Thunder run that gave the hosts a 14-point cushion.
Oklahoma City’s 38 first-quarter points were the team’s most in any quarter this season.
The Thunder led 66-51 at halftime and 94-74 going into the fourth.
“They’re a good team and they just beat us,” D’Antoni said.
Meanwhile, Tony Parker scored a team-high 29 points yesterday to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 117-110 NBA victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The friendly confines of the Spurs’ AT&T Center arena proved more conducive than the smoky Arena Ciudad de Mexico -- where the scheduled game between the teams on December 4 was cancelled after smoke from a generator malfunction engulfed the venue.
That game would have been just the second NBA regular season game in Mexico, after the Dallas Mavericks played the Houston Rockets there in 1997.
At home in San Antonio, the Spurs snapped a two-game losing streak against the Timberwolves.
They withstood a game-high 42 points from Minnesota’s Kevin Love, who also brought down 14 rebounds. Argentina’s Manu Ginobili contributed 20 points off the bench for San Antonio, and Kawhi Leonard added a season-high 19. Veteran Spurs star Tim Duncan added a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Agencies
