It took them most of the night to finally put the game away but the Lakers finally managed to outlast the Timberwolves 98-86.
Kobe Bryant overcame a subpar shooting performance to score 26 points and Pau Gasol added 18, 11 boards and six assists as the Lakers won their third straight game.
The Timberwolves, who have now lost nine in a row, remained competitive for most of the night but ultimately didn’t have enough to get over the hump. Al Jefferson led the charge with 20 points and 13 boards for Minnesota, who lost to San Antonio by the exact same score on Friday night.
However, Minnesota struggled from the floor. Jefferson was just 8-of-24, while third-year point guard Randy Foye was just 2-for-12.
The San Antonio Spurs’ December surge continued – though they had to sweat it out against the league’s worst team to keep their winning streak alive.
The San Antonio Spurs survived a fourth-quarter rally by the Oklahoma City Thunder before eventually prevailing for their sixth win in a row with a 109-104 victory.
Tony Parker registered 22 points and seven assists, scoring six big points in the last two minutes to seal the victory.
San Antonio led by as many as 26 before Oklahoma City – who have now lost seven straight – mounted an improbable comeback. The Thunder staged an 8-0 run early in the fourth to cut their deficit to single digits, then gradually whittled away at it before coming up just short.
David West led five players in double figures with 29 points as the New Orleans Hornets recorded a 99-91 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
James Posey recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Hornets, who led the entire fourth quarter. Chris Paul had 12 points and 12 assists for New Orleans, which shot 48 percent (36-of-75).
On a day when Paul seemed disinterested in scoring, West and Posey did the heavy lifting for the Hornets. West hit 10-of-16 from the floor and added nine rebounds, while Posey connected on 6-of-10 3-pointers – one shy of his career high.
OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay may be slowly carrying the Memphis Grizzlies toward respectability.
OJ Mayo scored 28 points and buried four three-pointers to lift the Memphis Grizzlies to their fourth straight win with a 102-86 victory over the Miami Heat.
After leading the team in scoring four games in a row, Gay added 18. He and Mayo came into the game averaging a combined 40.5 points per game.
Memphis endured a miserable first month of the season, losing 11 of 12 despite Mayo’s emergence as one of the best of this year’s rookie class. But since then, the Grizzlies have started to put things together, winning five of six.