Tim Duncan visited his old rival Kobe Bryant last night in Los Angeles. Bryant, who’s leading the league in scoring, had an off night, going just 1 for 14 from the floor. He missed his first ten shots and all five of his 3-point attempts. The Lakers lose if that happens, and they did, 93-80. Bryant was tired. They say the thing about an aging athlete is not that he can’t do it anymore, but that he can’t do it every night. This may have been a fluke–Bryant certainly had poor shooting games as a young player, too–or it may have been loud ticking on the Kobe clock.
Duncan isn’t asked to do as much for his talent-loaded Spurs. The uber-veteran grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his 13 points as the Spurs coasted to their third straight win. One of those 13 points was Duncan’s 25,000th career point, placing him No. 19 on NBA all-time scoring list. Bryant probably shouldn’t have scored at all. When he finally hit a jump shot the Spurs scored 19 out of the next 22 points.