Aldridge brushes off Lakers again in Spurs 109-87 win

“I’m always out there competing and want to play hard and play good against him”, Leonard said.

“Most of the meeting, 75 percent or more will be about the basketball part and the other part will be a little bit about the business part of it, as well”, Scott said.

Coming into the game the Spurs were 11-0 at home and won games by an average of 14.3 points per game. I think because he was such a hit there when he was there with the national team for the Beijing Olympics, and I know he’s made many trips to China over the course of his career in the NBA. “I think we found from a great player that he was more interested in the basketball on-the-court stuff than anything else”.

“He had one of those All-Pro type games”, Lakers Coach Byron Scott said.

SAN ANTONIO The banishment lasted four days before Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell reclaimed something he thought belonged to him. The Lakers landed a second meeting with Aldridge that Scott described as “all basketball”, which also included Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and player development coach Mark Madsen.

The Spurs were more low-key while sitting down with him.

Coach Gregg Popovich said before Friday’s game that he doesn’t expend a lot of energy pitching players on joining his team. “Sometimes I think he has deferred too much because he is trying to fit in”. We tried to sell Jason Kidd and it didn’t work. “That’s overblown that we’re going to have some kind of salesman deal”. “If they don’t, I don’t care”.

Besides Popovich, the Spurs had two very important people in the room with Aldridge – veterans Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Patty Mills added 22 points off the bench, while Johnathon Simmons chipped in nine points.

“If they come they come”, Popovich said. “They asked a few questions, he and his agents, and that was that”. He is shooting 45.5%, which would be a career low if it doesn’t improve.

Countless arenas who despise the Lakers will now show up en masse sporting Kobe Bryant jerseys as the Black Mamba takes to their courts for a final tip-off. Kobe finished with 12 points, four assists and six rebounds. The Lakers struggled to stop the Spurs on defense, but they were able to score efficiently with back-to-back threes from Lou Williams and Russell to give the Lakers their first lead 12-10. “It is a big what-if”.