Lakers Gameday | 01/25/09 | Lakers 99, Spurs 85

LOS ANGELES(AP) A matchup of the Western Conference's best teams turned out to be a mismatch.

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers routed the San Antonio Spurs 99-85 Sunday.

The win was the fourth straight and 14th in 17 games for the Lakers (35-8), whose .814 winning percentage is the best in the NBA although the defending champion Boston Celtics (37-9) lead them by a half-game in the overall standings by virtue of their 124-100 victory over Dallas earlier Sunday.

Trevor Ariza came off the bench to score 17 points to match his season high, Andrew Bynum had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Jordan Farmar added 14 points for the Lakers. Gasol was the only Los Angeles starter to play in the final period. Lakers reserves outscored their San Antonio counterparts 39-32.

Tony Parker had 19 points and six assists and Tim Duncan added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs (29-14), who lost for just the fourth time in their past 18 games. Neither played in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers outscored the Spurs 10-2 to start the fourth quarter for an 89-68 lead, and the Spurs didn't pose a serious threat after that.

Bryant and Derek Fisher made 3-pointers and Bynum added two free throws to begin the third quarter, giving the Lakers a 59-45 lead, and a three-point play by Gasol made it 68-53. It was 79-66 entering the final period.

Farmar, returning to action after missing 18 games because of an injured left knee, outscored San Antonio 7-2 by himself to give the Lakers a 40-34 lead. The Spurs responded with a 7-0 run before the Lakers outscored them 11-4 to finish the second period for a 51-45 halftime lead.

Bryant scored eight points in the first 6 1/2 minutes to help the Lakers take a 16-9 lead, but he wouldn't score again until making a pair of foul shots with 3:42 left before halftime. Michael Finley made two 3-pointers to spark a 14-6 run to finish the first quarter, putting the Spurs on top 23-22.

Notes: Lakers coach Phil Jackson taped an interview Friday with Magic Johnson, a part-owner of the team, that was shown at halftime on ABC-TV. Before the game, the 63-year-old coach cleared up confusion stemming from the interview that next season would be his final one, saying: "Everything's the same as it always was.'' Jackson has often said he's going year-to-year without a definitive retirement plan. ... The Lakers and Spurs have combined to win seven of the past 10 NBA championships. "We've had a long rivalry with these guys,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We've beaten them up at times, they've beaten us up at times.'' ... The Lakers have played an NBA-high 26 home games and a league-low 17 road games. After entertaining Charlotte on Tuesday night, they'll play 23 of 31 games on the road. ... The Spurs have played 24 home games and 19 road games. This game marked the beginning of a stretch where they play 11 of 12 on the road.

Andrew Bynum has had no trouble overpowering two of the worst teams in the NBA this week. He'll now try to continue his recent dominance against one of the league's best as the Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Lakers host the Southwest Division-leading San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

Los Angeles (34-8) and San Antonio (29-13) have combined for nine of the last 10 Western Conference titles and they are again in the mix for the top seed.

The Lakers, who have a five-game lead atop the West over the second-place Spurs, eliminated San Antonio in five games from last season's conference finals, and now boast a threat they didn't even have for that series.

Bynum missed the second half of last season and the playoffs with a left knee injury, but has been a force in the paint lately.

After finishing with a career-high 42 points and 15 rebounds in a 108-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, Bynum had 23 points and 14 boards in Thursday's 117-97 victory over Washington - the Lakers' third straight win.

"I'm happy for him. If Andrew can continue to have that type of presence in the middle - no matter who the other team is - we're going to be a much better team," Lakers point guard Derek Fisher said. "He seems to just be getting more comfortable on the court, physically."

Bynum is 25-of-36 from the floor in his last two games, and played just 27 minutes against the Wizards as coach Phil Jackson gave his starters extra rest in the easy win.

"We went through a stretch where teams felt like they could double off Pau (Gasol), but we made them pay," Kobe Bryant said. "Now they're trying to do the same thing with Andrew, so we're making them pay."

Bynum had 18 points and only three rebounds in the Lakers' 112-111 road loss to the Spurs on Jan. 14, their first meeting since last season's playoffs. That is the only game in Bynum's career Los Angeles has lost when its 7-foot center has scored at least 18 points. The Lakers are 18-1 in such games.

In last week's meeting, Bryant hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to give the Lakers a two-point lead, but Roger Mason completed a three-point play two seconds later to give San Antonio the lead for good.

Bryant, selected to start in the All-Star game for the 11th consecutive season on Thursday, finished with 29 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in the loss to the Spurs. He had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds in 28 minutes on Thursday after averaging 23.8 points, 11.3 assists and 9.0 boards in his previous four games, with two triple-doubles.

San Antonio's Tim Duncan, named to his 10th consecutive All-Star team, had 30 points and 15 rebounds in Friday's 94-91 win over New Jersey.

Duncan, averaging 28.5 points on 63.9 percent shooting in his last two games, had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in the win over the Lakers.

The Spurs have won four straight games and now embark on a difficult three-game road trip that also takes them to Utah and Phoenix.

"This is going to be a tough schedule," said Tony Parker, who had 20 points in the win over Los Angeles last week. "You don't want to get in that position where you lose the game before the road trip. Now we can focus and have a big game in L.A."

San Antonio, which has won five of its last six road games, has lost its last five games at Staples Center against the Lakers, including playoffs.