Spurs 102, Lakers 91

San Antonio kept insisting the playoffs were a new season and that its woeful finish to the regular season was not as grave as it appeared.

After 16 straight postseason appearances, San Antonio should know what it's talking about.

Tony Parker had 28 points and seven assists and the Spurs beat Los Angeles on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard had 16 points each, Manu Ginobili added 13 points and Matt Bonner had 10 for San Antonio, which had lost three straight entering the series.

"I thought we played two pretty good games on the defensive end of the court back-to-back," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we did it for most of the year, as I said, until maybe the last three weeks of the season it dissipated. We got it back for these two games."

Dwight Howard and Steve Blake had 16 points each to lead Los Angeles. Metta World Peace and Pau Gasol added 13 points each, but no other player had more than nine as the Lakers shot 45 percent from the field.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles said a key to winning was shooting better, and they did - but so did San Antonio.

"They are just much more efficient than we are," Los Angeles coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They are playing better than we are right now."

The Spurs shot 51 percent from the field after shooting 38 percent in Game 1. San Antonio was 7 for 14 on 3-pointers, including 5 for 7 in the first half.

Parker had 15 points in the third quarter after going 1 for 6 in the first half. He scored 12 straight points on a series of layups and floating jumpers against Blake. Parker's run gave the Spurs a 75-65 lead with 3 minutes left in the third.

"You see Tony tonight and that's probably the best part of the whole game," Duncan said. "He's getting his rhythm back. He felt good tonight. He shot the ball well tonight. He looked like Tony of midseason tonight and that's great for us."

The Lakers shot 37 percent (9 for 24) in the first quarter, a slight improvement over their 7-for-20 performance (35 percent) in the opening quarter of Game 1.

Gasol posted early, tipping in a miss by Howard for the game's opening basket and missing a 5-footer before Duncan blocked his 5-foot hook.

Gasol was 5 for 14 overall, including 1 for 6 in the second half.

"I didn't get into a good rhythm out there," Gasol said. "This first half was better, but in the second half I struggled with my shot. I can't be short on my shots; fatigue kicked in a little bit and I'm fighting through some stuff myself physically. But at this point, we're in fight mode; we'll fight through whatever is on the table. Try to stay alive in this series and fight for our lives."

Pacers 113, Hawks 98

Paul George followed his triple-double by scoring a playoff career-high 27 points to lead Indiana to a 2-0 series lead.

The Pacers have won four straight home games over the Hawks. It's the first time Indiana has held a 2-0 series lead since the 2004 Eastern Conference semifinals.

George, playing in his first game since being named the league's Most Improved Player, was 11 of 21 from the field, had eight rebounds, three assists and four steals and again played well defensively. George Hill had 22 points.

Atlanta was led by Devin Harris with 17 points. Jeff Teague and Josh Smith both had 16.

Game 3 is Saturday in Atlanta.

Indiana again took control late in the first quarter and never trailed again.

Thunder 105, Rockets 102

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each scored 29 points, and Oklahoma City recovered after squandering a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter to beat Houston Wednesday night and take a 2-0 series lead.

Durant hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:28 to play, and the Thunder didn't relinquish the lead after that. Durant missed a free throw with 1 second left, but Houston was out of timeouts and Carlos Delfino couldn't connect on a desperation shot at the final buzzer.

James Harden scored 36 points and spearheaded a 21-2 comeback that wiped out the big deficit and put the Rockets up 95-91. But the top-seeded Thunder were able to respond and protect the home-court advantage they'd spent all season earning.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Houston.

Spurs 102, Lakers 91

Tony Parker had 28 points and seven assists and San Antonio beat Los Angeles to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard had 16 points each, Manu Ginobili added 13 points and Matt Bonner had 10 for San Antonio.

Dwight Howard and Steve Blake had 16 points each to lead Los Angeles. Metta World Peace and Pau Gasol added 13 points each, but no other player had more than nine as the Lakers shot 45 percent from the field.

Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

The Spurs shot 51 percent from the field after shooting 38 percent in Game 1. San Antonio was 7 for 14 on 3-pointers, including 5 for 7 in the first half.

Notes

Memphis' Gasol wins NBA defensive player honors

Grizzlies center Marc Gasol has won his first NBA Defensive Player of the Year award after anchoring the league's stingiest defense.

Gasol received 212 points and 30 first-place votes to edge Miami's LeBron James, who had 149 points and 18 first-place votes, the NBA announced Wednesday.

"It's a great honor," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. "Marc's played well. There's a lot of other guys that are worthy, you know. They saw fit to give Marc the award, and he was deserving."

The 7-foot-1 Spaniard averaged 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals for a Memphis defense that allowed a league-best 88.7 points per game. The five-year veteran ranked 12th in the league in blocks.

Memphis became the first team to hold opponents below 90 points per game in a season since 2005-06 when both the Grizzlies (88.5) and San Antonio (88.8) accomplished the feat.

Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka was third with 122 points and 14 first-place votes. The 28-year-old Gasol becomes the first Grizzlies player to earn defensive player honors, and he did it in a season when he wasn't an All-Star.

He also had to beat out two teammates in Tony Allen, who received 102 points and nine first-place votes, and guard Mike Conley, who received a point.