Down nine at halftime, the Spurs blitzed the Lakers in the third quarter, outscoring L.A. 31-12 behind some energetic play from Manu Ginobili, and good shooting from Ime Udoka and Brent Barry. Udoka, who played for Portland last season, finished with 18 points on 7-10 shooting (3-4 from long range). He is a good defender and continues to improve his jumpshot. I think he’ll eventually replace Bruce Bowen as the Spurs’ perimeter lockdown defender.
Barry had a great sequence to close the third quarter. First, he hit a three-pointer with 0:06 to play. Then he stole the Lakers’ inbound pass and flipped the ball to Tony Parker, who fed the ball back to him on the wing for another bomb with 0:01 to play.
Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 29 points, while Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 28 points and 17 rebounds.
