The Lakers chose the seventh game of the young NBA season to make their great escape, narrowly surviving a furious last second rally from the Houston Rockets for a 93-90 victory. After falling behind by double digits in the first half, the Rockets staged an impressive comeback in the third quarter, squashing the Lakers 61-49 halftime lead and briefly taking the lead for themselves in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers poor play for most of the second half was borderline inexcusable considering the Rockets began the third quarter without one half of their superstar duo as Tracy McGrady injured his elbow in the waning moments before halftime and left for the hospital for an MRI shortly thereafter.
Despite succumbing to the Rockets scramble and dash style of play for the majority of the second half, Kobe Bryant’s steady leadership and series of clutch shots stifled the Rockets in the final three minutes of the game. Bryant finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, five assists and one super-sized block over Yao Ming during the height of the Lakers exceptional defensive first half play. Jordan Farmar also excelled for the Lakers, finishing with an uncharacteristic nine rebounds to go along with eight timely points. Bynum continued his impressive rebounding stretch over the past few games, pulling down nine more for the Lake Show.
Tonight’s victory, pushing the team’s overall record above .500 once again, should be looked at carefully, despite the fact that the Lakers were playing one of the best teams in the league. If Kobe and Co. hope to experience similar success against the other members of the NBA elite, they will need to cut down their turnovers and learn how to stomp on their opponents when they are reeling as was the case during the third quarter.
Nonetheless, a win’s a win and the Lakers needed this one badly following a disappointing showing against the Spurs and heading into two more tough games against the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls this weekend.
