New York's Steve Francis injured his left ankle on Nov. 6 when he came down on Bowen's foot after a made shot and Knicks coach Isiah Thomas complained to the league about Bowen.

"I had a talk with him about just being Bruce Bowen," Popovich said. "All that stuff is garbage, be who he is. He's the best perimeter defender in the league."

Bowen has said he is committed to sticking with his menacing defensive style.

After a first half filled with questionable foul calls, the officials were booed loudly as they left with security at halftime. There were two first-half technicals ¡ª at 10:13 on Shareef Abdur-Rahim for arguing after being whistled for a foul on Duncan and on the Spurs' Robert Horry for a defensive violation.

"I think for a second we let it (affect us)," Abdur-Rahim said. "But you have to be mentally tougher than that."

At Los Angeles, Lamar Odom scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers.

Andrew Bynum added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Los Angeles before fouling out. Kobe Bryant scored 18 points, matching his lowest total in eight games since returning from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in July.

Bryant, last season's NBA scoring champ, shot 5-for-14 after scoring 31 points in Friday's 107-100 win against Toronto, but the Lakers still managed to win their third in a row and hand Chicago its fourth straight loss.

Andres Nocioni scored a career-high 30 points for the Bulls. The third-year forward, who missed his first nine shots in Friday's 110-83 loss at San Antonio and came in with a 10.7 scoring average, made five of his first seven against the Lakers and finished 11-for-21 overall.

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