LAKERS STOP SPURS FOR 3RD WIN IN ROW
KUALA LUMPUR: China’s Li Haotong held his nerve to birdie his final hole and give hosts Asia a slender lead over champions Europe on the opening day of the 2018 EurAsia Cup in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Paired with Malaysian Nicholas Fung, the 22-year-old Li won the hole to halve the day’s final fourball match against Spaniard Rafa CabreraBello and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger as Asia opened up a 3 1/2-2 1/2 lead. In the last edition of the event, a Darren Clarke-captained European team romped to an 18 1/2-5 1/2 blowout win over their Asian counterparts in the second edition of the biennial matchplay contest in 2016. However, Thomas Bjorn’s side were far less convincing this time around, with Europe finding themselves down in four matches and allsquare in the other two as Asia dominated the early stages of LOS ANGELES: Brandon Ingram scored 26 points, and Lonzo Ball contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as the Los Angeles Lakers knocked off the San Antonio Spurs 93-81 on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Larry Nance Jr added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who won their season-best third consecutive game. Los Angeles forced 20 turnovers and halted a seven-game home losing streak versus San Antonio.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 20 points for the Spurs, who were without standout small forward Kawhi Leonard (shoulder) for the third straight game. Bryn Forbes added 18 points for San Antonio.
Ingram made 11 of 21 shots while scoring 20 or more points for the third time in the past four games.
“My team-mates give me confidence to be in the right spot and make plays,” Ingram said in a postgame interview on TNT. “It feels pretty good.”
The Lakers racked up 15 steals, including five by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and four by Ball.
Nance delivered a dunk to give the Lakers a 72-62 lead early in the fourth quarter before San Antonio controlled the next four-plus minutes and pulled within 77-75 on a 21-footer by Forbes with 6:23 remaining.
Los Angeles answered by putting the game away. CaldwellPope and Nance slammed home back-to-back dunks and Ingram scored consecutive baskets as part of a 13-0 surge to push the Los Angeles advantage to 90-75 with 3:11 to play.
San Antonio recovered from an 11-point half-time lead to take a 53-52 lead on a 3-pointer by Forbes with 6:42 left in the third quarter. the first day Country Club.
Europe did manage to fight back as the rounds progressed with the English pairing of Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Casey putting the team on the board with a 4 and 3 victory over Korean An Byeong-Un and Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat in the first match.
“It feels great. I love matchplay, especially when you have a partner like Tommy Fleetwood,” said Casey, who was one of Bjorn’s two wildcard selections. “What a blast, what great golf we played, but the Asians threw a lot at us, as well.
“I’m ecstatic to get this going and get a point because it’s going to be a tough week.”
Asia rallied to take the lead with Yuta Ikeda and Gavin Green beating Thomas Pieters and Matthew Fitzpatrick 2 and 1, before Poom Saksansin and Kang Sung-Hoon defeated Henrik Stenson and Alex Levy 5 and 4.
Another English pairing, Ross Fisher and Tyrrell Hatton, then tied the scores with a 5 and 4 win over Indian duo of Anirban Lahiri and S S P Chawrasia.
However, Hideto Tanihara and the 18-yearold Phachara Khongwatmai put Asia back in front with a 2-up victory over Alex Noren and Paul Dunne, leaving it to Cabrera-Bello and Wiesberger to ensure the champions headed into the weekend on level terms.
Cabrera-Bello’s immaculate putting saw the pair lead by one at the 18th tee but they failed to match Asia’s birdie and had to settle for a half point.
Bjorn will also captain Europe in the Ryder Cup, which takes place in France this September, with the hosts looking to regain the trophy they lost to the United States at Hazeltine in 2016.
Los Angeles followed with a 16-4 burst with CaldwellPope scoring eight of the points, including a 3-pointer to cap the spurt to give the Lakers a 68-57 lead. The Spurs tallied the final five points of the stanza to move within six.
Ingram scored 18 first-half points and Ball added 11 as the Lakers took a 49-38 advantage into half-time.
Los Angeles used a 25-3 spurt to turn a three-point deficit with at the Glenmarie Golf and 3:01 left in the first quarter into a 37-18 lead with 7:16 left in the half. A dunk by Nance ended a run of 17 straight Lakers points to make it 29-15 early in the second quarter, and Ball knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 19-point margin.
San Antonio answered with a 13-3 push to cut its deficit to nine and later got within 42-36 after a 3-pointer by Pau Gasol with 2:01 left before the break.