Spurs win 11th straight, 125-109 over Lakers
San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter, of Brazil, below, dunks as Los Angeles Lakers forward Ryan Kelly defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, March 19, 2014, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LOS ANGELES — Tony Parker scored 25 points, Kawhi Leonard added 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs pulled away from the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, winning 125-109 for their 11th consecutive victory.
Danny Green scored 16 points and Tim Duncan had 12 points and 16 rebounds for the NBA-leading Spurs, who haven’t lost since Feb. 21 while winning 14 of 15.
With their seventh straight victory over the Lakers dating to last season’s playoffs, the Spurs opened a 1 1/2-game lead over Indiana for the league’s best record. San Antonio leads Oklahoma City by two games atop the Western Conference.
Pau Gasol had 22 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Los Angeles. Xavier Henry scored 24 points in the Lakers’ sixth loss in seven games.
Los Angeles has lost 20 of 26.
San Antonio held off a decent challenge from the miserable Lakers with strong shooting down the stretch and 14 second-half points from Leonard. Green and Manu Ginobili hit three 3-pointers apiece for the Spurs, who opened a three-game California road trip by calmly matching their longest winning streak of the season.
Kent Bazemore scored 13 points and hit three 3-pointers for the Lakers, who hadn’t played since their 34-point loss at San Antonio five days earlier. That win was the biggest in this long-standing rivalry for the Spurs, who have followed up last spring’s four-game playoff sweep of Los Angeles with three straight wins this season.
Kobe Bryant has played against the Spurs just four times in the clubs’ last 12 meetings.
Green hit five of the Spurs’ 13 3-pointers in last week’s blowout, but the Lakers largely kept up with powerful San Antonio in the rematch. Los Angeles led for stretches of the third quarter before San Antonio scored 18 points in roughly 3 1/2 minutes with big baskets from Parker and Leonard.
San Antonio matched its largest lead of the night at 108-97 on Duncan’s jumper with 6:03 left. Marco Belinelli and Parker contributed big shots down the stretch as the Spurs pulled away.
The Lakers yielded 100 points for the 12th consecutive game and gave up 110 for the seventh straight game. Los Angeles is the Western Conference’s worst defensive team.
Robert Sacre had seven points and a career-high 11 rebounds for Los Angeles.
