Charlotte: The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers were left embarrassed after their worst loss of the season, a 109-89 thrashing by the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday.
One day after a bad 89-75 defeat to the Orlando Magic, the Lakers fell flat in an effort that left head coach Phil Jackson fuming.
"I just have this to say: we're very disappointed in our performance tonight, we're embarrassed about what we did, and that's it," Jackson told reporters before walking away.
After beginning their current seven-game road trip with four wins, Los Angeles has lost two straight and has dropped eight of their past ten meetings with the Bobcats (24-31).
Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds while Gerald Henderson added 18 points to lead the Bobcats to a second-half surge that knocked out the Lakers (38-18). The Bobcats ended the third quarter with a 14-3 spurt to pull 78-60 clear and led by as many as 28 in the fourth.
Kobe Bryant managed 20 points but made just 8 of 20 field goals while Pau Gasol finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat. Los Angeles will look to regroup against the NBA-worst Cleveland Cavaliers today in the finale of their road trip.
Meanwhile San Antonio Spurs cruised to a 102-85 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday. Manu Ginobili returned to the starting line-up with 22 points, one game after coming off the bench for the first time this season, and Tim Duncan added 15 points and 11 rebounds to help the Spurs run their league-best record to 46-9.
San Antonio also improved to 6-2 on their nine-game road trip which concludes in Chicago against the Bulls on tomorrow.
