Lakers beat Spurs 102-97 - Bynum ejected

The Spurs were without their two main players tonight as they both had to rest their sprained ankles tonight. That put San Antonio from one of the elite teams of the NBA to one of the better teams in the NBA. You still had Ginobili doing what he usually does and the other perimeter players knocking the shots down from the outside but the Lakers were able to stop this better team and beat them 102-97.

Emotions got the best of young Laker Andrew Bynum when he got rejected in the 3rd quarter. Bynum had tangled with San Antonio's Fabricio Oberto and was arguing a foul call when he got a technical foul. When he continued to mouth off, a second tech quickly followed. Kobe Bryant had to restrain his young teammate from getting in the face of the officials.

The Lakers bench came in the game and did good, just ask Ronny Turiaf who said. "We got down early and the second unit came in and gave the starters a little energy." The bench contributed 37 points Thursday, with Turiaf, Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic sharing the lead with eight points each. None might have been more important than Jordan Farmar's fall-back, nothing-but-net three-point shot with just under six minutes to play in the fourth quarter, which extended the Lakers' lead to 90-82.

The Lakers were able to hold off the Spurs in the 4th quarter. "We were able to lock down and get some stops when we needed," forward Lamar Odom said. "And we shut down in the paint when we needed to. We rebounded well and that helped."

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers in the game with 30 points.

The Lakers, who have now won 4 in a row are looking like a very good team lately. Look at their faces and you see pure confidence. They are now 13-8 this season, last season at this mark they were 15-6. I know, after such a big disappointment last season by the Lakers last season, we forget that they had a pretty solid start. Hopefully they can turn this 4 game winning streak into a 10 game winning streak as five of their next six games will be against teams that are below .500, the lone exception being the 12-10 Warriors tonight at Golden State.

They return home to face the Clippers on Sunday before leaving for a four-game trip against the Bulls, Cavaliers, 76ers and Knicks, whose combined record is 32-53.

Kwame Brown is ready to return to the team as he has missed the last 12 games due to a sprained ankle and knee.