Spurs 89, Lakers 88

Manu Ginobilii missed a 3-pointer, then Tony Parker missed a runner, then Tim Duncan missed and it looked like the Lakers might hang on for a victory tonight over the San Antonio Spurs. But the Lakers failed to box out Antonio McDyess for the third time in the closing seconds and McDyess swatted Duncan’s miss into the basket with 0.1 seconds to play for the winning basket. The loss dropped the Lakers to 7 1/2 games behind the league-leading Spurs with 32 games remaining in the regular season. It might not be enough time for the Lakers to catch up to the Spurs or as Andrew Bynum put it, “We needed to win this game. It sucks that we didn’t.” Now the Lakers hit the road for a seven-game trip, their longest of the season.