After being shimmied out of the AT&T Center last night versus the Spurs, the Lakers head east of San Antonio to complete their Texas two-step against the Rockets. Houston is coming off of a surprising 105-99 defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies last night and should be more than ready to take out their anger against the Lakers. While L.A. has not fared well against Houston in its last three meetings, the Lakers should be eager to avenge their opening night loss to the Rockets and last night’s internal combustion against the Spurs.
As always, the Kobe Bryant-Tracy McGrady matchup should provide plenty of intrigue, but also keep an eye out for the battle between Lakers centers and Yao Ming. The Houston center has torched the Lakers in his last five meetings with the team, averaging 31.6 points and pulling down 11.8 rebounds to go along with 3.4 blocks.
Tonight’s Starters:
Lakers:
PG Derek Fisher
SG Kobe Bryant
C Kwame Brown
PF Ronny Turiaf
SF Lamar Odom
Rockets:
PG Rafer Alston
SG Tracy McGrady
C Yao Ming
PF Chuck Hayes
SF Shane Battier
1st Quarter:
10:59 Nice tip-in by Odom to open up the scoring for the Lakers. Let’s see how he fares when he’s forced to his right hand and so to, his injured pinky finger.
8:31 Nice three by Fisher over Alston with the shot clock winding town to give the Lakers an early half-dozen point lead. The team is shooting 57% to open up the game.
6:13 Almost a colossal block by Yao over Turiaf, but the Houston center was called for a foul instead sending Ronny to the line for two much to the chagrin of the Toyota Center crowd. Not sure Ronny had a chance against Yao anyway, but nice to see him being aggressive as usual.
4:06 Great shot by Ronny over Scola for their first field girl in more than four minutes. Turiaf leads the Lakers with seven points, helping to give the team a 17-15 lead.
2:53 Outstanding coast-to-coast lay-up for Odom to keep the Lakers lead at two points. Lamar could have easily dished to Kobe on the wing, but Houston failed to commit so he opted to take the ball to the hole himself, bumping his point total to six. As was the case last night versus the Spurs, Kobe’s been quiet so far, but his teammates are stepping it up early in the game.
2:44 Bynum’s in early tonight, obvously being rewarded for his stellar play last night. Walton and Farmar, two more bright spots from last night’s loss against the Spurs also enter for the first time. Lamar and Kobe both remain on the floor in what looks like one of Coach Jackson’s newest rotations now that Odom is back and Luke has moved to the bench.
1:02 Kobe finally gets his first basket of the game to recpture the lead for the Lakers 22-20. Meanwhile, Scola heads to the line for the Rockets on the ensuing Rockets possession.
31.1 Radmanovic comes into the game and immediately makes his presence known, knocking down a high-arching three over Scola to raise the Lakers lead to 25-22. Bonzi Wells’ put-back basket in the waning seconds of the quarter cut the Lakers lead to 25-22.
2nd Quarter:
12:00 The Lakers open the quarter with five reserves on the floor. The Lakers bench is averaging almost 40 points per game in the team’s six games so far.
10:04 Another three from the left corner for Radman, assisted by Farmar. The team is shooting 60% from beyond the arc so far as the Lakers lead 29-25. Coming into the game, Vlade is shooting 52% from three-point range.
9:09 A flying Andrew Bynum picks up Jordan’s missed lay-up off the backboard for an impresive dunk over Houston bigs.
8:00 Heat check for Farmar! The Lakers guard just knocked in his second three in a row to give the Lakers a double-digit lead at 37-27. Houston looks helpless against the new-and-improved Lakers bench. At some point–probably sooner than later–opposing teams are going to have to stop underestimating Lakers reserves. One game….maybe two…but this marks two weeks now of exceptional play from Farmar, Radmanovic, Bynum and the like.
7:47 Lamar and Kobe are back in the game for the Lakers, joining Farmar, Bynum and Radmanovic.
6:30 Unselfish pass from Kobe to Lamar after a Rockets bucket, increasing the Lakers lead to 11 and giving them a 12-2 edge in fast-break points.
5:28 With five and a half minutes to go, both teams are out of fouls. Unlike the home opener versus these same Rockets, the Lakers are making their free throws tonight, knocking in ten of twelve. On the Lakers end, Kobe just made his second straight shot to give the Lakers a game-high 14 point lead.
3:48 Everyone’s joining the party tonight as the Lakers narrowly avoided over-passing to bump their lead to 17 following Fisher’s ricochet three from the corner. T-Mac’s misses a three on the Rockets end. In what was one of the key defensive match-ups heading into the game, Lamar is doing an exceptional job locking down the Rockets guard, holding him to only eight points on three of seven shooting thus far.
2:34 Massive alley-oop dunk by Kwame from Fisher, sending ripples throughout the Toyota Center crowd. All of Houston looks unsettled at the moment with the Lakers leading by 16.
1:49 Defensive Player of the Year? Hard to find a better candidate after Kobe just showed Yao how it’s done with an emphatic highlight-reel block over China’s favorite player. Kobe’s seemingly come up with at least one Sportscenter worthy block in each of the Lakers’ games so far.
Halftime: After shooting a torrid 67% in the second quarter, the Lakers head into the second half up by 12 at 61-49. The Lakers led by 17 with just under four minutes to go, but allowed a mini-run by the Rockets to keep Houston within reaching distance. As Chick Hearn used to say, the first five minutes of the third quarter will be pivotal in determining whether the Lakers stretch their lead to 20 or more or if the Rockets can cut it down to single digits. Other positives of note for the Lakers: The team is faring much better at the free throw line going 10 for 12 and has also managed to limit their turnovers–a problem all season long–to just five. In the second half, the Lakers will need to continue to lock down Houston on the defensive end. So far, L.A. has minimized the impact of Houston’s superstar tandem of Ming and McGrady. The Lakers may be assisted by a last-second injury by T-Mac who looked like he may have hurt his elbow or some other area of the arm. McGrady shot two free throws with his left hand before darting to the Houston locker room. His fate for the rest of the game could have a huge effect on how the second half plays out. Stat of the half: The Lakers have held the Rockets to an impressive 38% shooting.
3rd Quarter:
Update: McGrady is headed to the hospital to have an MRI taken of his arm and is out for the second half. Really no excuse for the Lakers not to take advantage of a potentially crippling blow for Houston.
9:55 Sweet 18-footer for Turiaf evoking memories of A.C. Green and Horace Grant to increase the Lakers lead to 14.
9:15 Back into single digits for the Rockets as they’ve rallied together and come out focused to start the half. The Lakers, meanwhile look sluggish and out of sync so far.
8:14 Yao in particular is stepping it up for the Rockets in McGrady’s absence, getting an easy three-point player after Turiaf and Kwame gave up on the play after the whistle was blown.
7:24 The first five minutes have been decisively by the Rockets, now trailing by only five points after Wells’ nifty reverse and-one, the Rockets second straight three-point play.
Kwame just hurt his upper back after being hit in the area. For the time being, Brown’s moved to the Lakers bench indefinitely.
5:19 Not quite this time for D-Fish. After all the hoop-lah surrounding last night’s return to the city where the Lakers guard knocked down his epic 0.4 shot, Fisher just got a chance for a (much less dramatic) turn-away jumper with the shot clock expiring. Instead, it was just another poor possession this quarter for the Lakers.
4:24 The Lakers have more than doubled their turnovers from the first half, already giving the ball away seven times this quarter. The Rockets just climbed to within one point of the Lakers, the closest they’ve been since the opening minutes of the game.
2:30 Radman, Farmar and Walton join Kobe and Bynum on the floor. The same trip ignited the Lakers in the second quarter…let’s see how they fare now that the Lakers are seriously lacking in the momentum department.
1:40 It’s a 13 minute ball-game after Battie’s three ties up the game for the Rockets, outscoring the Lakers by a dozen points thus quarter.
38.2 Four unanswered points for the Lakers to momentarily quell the Rockets surge, highlighted my Mo Evans’ corner trey. By no coincidence, it has been the Lakers reserves that have helped diffuse some of the Rockets steam in the past minute and a half.
4th Quarter:
11:32 Tack on two more turnovers to the Lakers tally to open up the final quarter, giving them 15 on the night. This time around, good idea by Luke, but poor execution of a lob pass intended for Bynum. The Lakers are holding on to a precarious four-point lead.
10:08 Not in Mutombo’s house! Where’s the finger wave? Dikembe just said, “no, no” to Evan’s breakaway dunk attempt.
8:51 The second time’s the charm for Evans as he slams home a dunk over Mutumbo and gives the Houston center a little index-finger salute of his own to give the Lakers the lead again by one basket.
7:37 Kobe re-enters the game and makes sure Houston’s fully aware, hitting a fadeaway jumper over Mike James to break the 79-79 tie in what’s quickly becoming a see-saw fourth quarter for the teams.
4:52 The game is tied once again after Kobe’s timely jumper temporaily halted the Rockets ongoing surge. The Lakers better hope #24 has a few more in reserve as the rest of the team has gone cold at the most inopportune time.
2:41 Kobe’s headed to the line for the first time in the second half with the Rockets out of fouls and the Lakers up by two. After two Bryant makes, the Lakers lead 87-83 with under three minutes to go.
1:47 Degree of difficulty: 12. Kobe’s clutch jumper over Yao just gave the Lakers some minor breathing room with a four point lead.
44.1 More turnovers for the Lakers, now surpassing the 20 turnover plateau and sending the Rockets loose on the break and Bonzi to the line for two.
23.9 The Rockets are firing blanks all over the court as the Lakers just dodged a flurry of primarily wide-open three-pointers that would have tied the score at 89. Instead, Bynum is fouled on the rebound and nails two clutch free throws to increase the lead to five. Don’t credit the Lakers defense though…the team was just flat out lucky on that possession.
End of Game: 93-90. Phew. The Lakers just escaped Houston after Farmar’s terrible foul sent Yao to the line for a three-point play. Yao intentionally missed the free throw, with the ball deflecting perfectly against the lip of the rim to Ming who passed it to Alston for a near make that would have sent the game into overtime.
