ROCKETS -at- LAKERS - 12/15 - Thoughts and :-)) ratings

[DancingBarry]

Not for the Faint of Heart, Part 2... What's with these two teams? Another insane game. The Lakers played one of their worst halves of basketball all season, then throttled it up once again with an overpowering third quarter, taking the game into double overtime, and eventually coming away with the 112-101 victory.

Kobe Bryant willed the team to this win and pretty much epitomized the two halves of basketball. His 53 points, 10 boards and 8 assists are crazy numbers. People may focus on the 38 shots, but look at those numbers. Legendary baller type of numbers.

The Lakers trailed 53-35 at the half. You combine a ton of careless turnovers with the Rockets blocking shots right and left, and you will suffer. They had a season-low scoring half and heard it from the crowd. But the game changed dramatically. Look at the stats: They had 13 turnovers in the first half, only 3 the rest of the game. The Rockets had 5 steals in the first, half, none the rest of the game. The Lakers got swatted 8 times in the first half, only 3 in the second half and overtime. The Lakers countered that first half with a 54-36 half of basketball themselves and took it to overtime.

Smush, Cook, Kwame and Luke all put together key sequences in the game and played both OTs. Smush, especially, stepped it up. Props to the Rockets for a good battle tonight, but going double OT after a game the night before...not easy. The Lakers destroyed them 13-2 in the second overtime. Also big props to Yao for giving us a ton of trouble on both ends.


Kobe -- -- Wow, what a game from Kobe. The team looked lifeless, careless and out of rhythm -- Kobe included, in the first half. You could see him put the team on his shoulders and carry them. He imposed his will on the game, attacking, shooting, trying to strike the match that would ignite the fire in the team. And when it finally happened, you could see him start to trust his teammates, even on absolutely critical possessions. That statline might not look great considering the percentage of shots he took. He had to do it, he had to lift this team. He scored 53 points in 54 minutes on 17-38 shooting (5-8 from three, 14-16 from the line), pulled down 10 boards, dished 8 assists, came up with 2 steals and 1 block. Kwame robbed Kobe of a triple-double by missing a couple of layups. His 5 turnovers all came in that miserable first half, he was clean the rest of the way. Let's break down the first half: He whipped a sweet pass through traffic like Magic to a cutting Vlad for a layup. He then threw a couple of passes away. He attacked in transition, drew a foul and made the FTs. Bad sequence, he telegraphed a pass that was easily picked off by Battier (who then hit a three), then Kobe dribbled the ball off his legs next time down for another turnover. He hit a baseline jumper off a kickout from Bynum. He missed his next jumper short. He elevated and drained a FT jumper. He missed a tough turnaround fade (poor shot selection after pumping a couple times). Great block on Yao, but he was called for a foul to erase it. He drained a wing three. He hit a pull-up jumper off the Kwame screen. He swung through and hit another three from the wing. Soft D and he gave up a three to Battier. He walked into a double team at the half court and then threw the ball away. He attacked the lane and fed Kwame for a layup. Stupid play at the end of the half trying to split a double team at half court by going between his legs (that could have been easily stolen and taken the other way) luckily he drew a whistle to get FTs, he made one. He had 19 points on 6-12 shooting and 5 turnovers at the half. The team was lethargic and had been boo'd a number of times. To start the second half, he sank a 30 footer on his second attempt. He missed fade, but we got it back and sank a three from the wing to cut the lead to 10. He took an entry feed at the FT line and hit a fallaway on his next attempt. He missed a fading 17-footer and another 30-foot three. He attacked to his left and drew FTs, just missing an And-1 (he made both). He locked up Bonzi on back-to-back post possessions, the second time taking it away and pushing out the break to Vlad for a layup. With the shotclock low, he swung through on Battier, stepped to his left and hit a baseline jumper. He missed a turnaround. He sat to start the fourth (we cut it to three, but the Rockets went on a run and he had to return). He swished a three from the wing after Evans tipped out a board. He tried to hit a three the next time down, but missed (seems rare when he misses those back-to-back threes, it's the third one that usually gets him). He iso'd on his man, beat him off the dribble, then put a body on Yao as he hit the bank in the lane. He pumpfaked on Battier, getting him in the air, then missed a jumper over him. He turned the corner, but pulled up for a three instead of attacking and missed. He attacked quick in transition, drew a foul and made both FTs. He jumped the passing lane to swipe the ball, kept his dribble alive on the sideline, pushed it up and drew a foul, he hit both FTs to cut the Rocket lead to 2 with 2 minutes left. He attacked and kicked to Smush for a three next time down and Smush drained it from the corner to give the Lakers their first lead. He sank a tech FT with under 1 minute left when the Rockets fouled Kwame intentionally off the ball. The Lakers looked to ball reverse to Kobe on the last play of regulation, but did it way too soon and then tried it again, the D focussed in on him and he missed a fade on the baseline.

On to overtime: The Lakers really started milking the two-man game with Kobe and Kwame from the wing in overtime, going to it again and again. Kobe got tapped on a three trying to beat the shotclock in OT. Battier fell down, Kobe attacked the paint and Yao was called for basket interference. He attacked from the elbow, just missed an And-1 and made only one FT. With under a minute left in OT, he attacked off the Kwame screen at the wing, took contact on Yao and hit in the middle of the lane to give the Lakers a 2-point lead. With 2 seconds left, he missed a fallaway from the wing, straight but long...double OT. He shed Battier on the Kwame screen, stutter-stepped against Yao, got past him and threw down a reverse jam to get the crowd in a frenzy. Smush poked the ball loose, Kobe pushed out the break, looked at Smush, fed to Luke who was fouled. The Rockets got a T on that and Kobe sank it. Great attack, getting into the lane off a Kwame screen, then he threw it back to Kwame, but he blew the layup. He attacked Battier to his right, faded and swished a jumper from slightly behind the backboard. That was his 51st point. He made like something flying out of Area 51 on his next score: Attacking Battier at the top of the FT line, taking two big steps, dodging arms right and left, hanging in the air and somehow banking in a layup, wow. "That's the best player in the league right now," Smush said, "and he definitely proved it tonight." Kobe's never-say-die attitude helped bring the team back to life. "Even though we were down by 20 points, I felt the game was ours," he said in the Times, "even though that may sound strange." Added Van Gundy, "I don't know if he imposed his will, but he imposed his skill."

Walton -- -- Luke didn't get into double digits in points, but he led the team in other ways. His 9 assists with just 1 turnover in 48 minutes, helped give the team that second engine in the offense at times. He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting, had 5 boards and 2 steals in 48 minutes. Early on, he drew a foul posting up. He attacked the lane, slid to his right and hit a runner. He anticipated a pass, swiped it and was fouled showing some speed on the break. He missed a baseline post up with Yao contesting. He posted up the smaller defender and scored easily at the front of the rim. His man tried to flop on the break, but Luke hit a one-footer off the glass. He attacked off a Farmar kickout, then drew the D and hit Bynum for the flush. He drove and kicked to Evans for an open three. He attacked off the dribble, took contact by Yao and just missed the And-1, he made one FT. He attacked with his left from the wing, jumpstepped against Yao, turned in the air and hit Kwame who scored an And-1. He attacked and Yao blocked his shot (so close to tell whether it was goaltending off the glass or not, but it would have put us up by 4 in regulation). He took a hard foul on the break with Kobe and drew FTs, he made one. He bobbled a feed by Kobe under the hoop, then wasn't aware of the clock and gave it to Kwame with 2 and we got a shotclock violation.

Smush -- -- Throw away the first half, and bottle that second half. Smush was as intense and animated as I've ever seen. I love it. He played with a lot of fire. "I didn't like the way we came out in the first half," he said afterward. "I didn't like my energy. I didn't like the team's energy. We all just came out as a collective group and just played some defense." There was a subtle moment midway through the third that I thought showed something different in Smush. He had just made a three and missed a three, but Phil had already made a decision to bring in Farmar early. When Smush saw the sub, you could see him just slump...but then he picked himself up. He went to the bench and high fived his teammates and clapped while sitting down. He didn't sulk, he tied to pump up his guys and keep that energy going. Phil highlighted after the game the way Smush returned to the game after that sub. He brought it on both ends. Smush was the Lakers second scorer tonight with 17 points on 5-11 shooting (3-6 from three, 4-5 from the line. He had 3 boards, 5 assists with just 1 turnover, and he had a game-high 4 steals. Let's get to action: He missed a three early. He was blocked on a layup attempt. He drew a moving pick foul fighting through a screen. He drew a foul away from the ball battling for a rebound. Excellent hustle to start the second half to chase his man, knock a ball loose, then save it behind his back before falling out of bounds. He swished a wing three. He missed another three the next time down, a step behind the line. Phil then sat him as mentioned above. Back in, he overplayed at midcourt and his man drove, missed, then scored his own putback. He ballfaked to clear Bonzi out of a lane, then scored an And-1. After Smush hit his FT, he pressured his man into a turnover in the backcourt. Great double team to strip the ball away from Yao. He attacked off a screen and Skip apparently stripped the ball off him for a key turnover, (too close to call, usually those go to the offensive player). Love the intensity here...he hustled to double Yao on one end and force a post miss, then he drained a corner three on a kickout from Kobe and pumped his fists as we took the first lead of the game with over a minute left. Next time down, he worked off the pinch post with Kobe, took the hand off, took a little contact and banked in the layup. The Rockets ran a number of high screen rolls with Alston and scored in OT. Smush missed a good look at an open three with just over 16 seconds left in OT. In the second OT, he swiped the ball on one end, the Lakers moved the ball around and found him on the other end and he swished a three, again showing the intensity as the Rockets called the timeout. Another great defensive play next time down, poking the ball loose on help D to Kobe who ignited the break for a score. He drew FTs on an attack off the dribble, made both. Just a great effort tonight, loved the intensity and the leadership. Keep that up, Smush...and bring it from the tip to the final minute.

Kwame -- -- Well, maybe when an opposing coach goes to the Hack-a-Kwame...Kwame might see what he can do to cure those free throw issues. He was 1-5 from the line tonight, intentionally fouled three times in regulation...that last time, cost the Rockets as it was under 2 minutes to go, which results in a tech. Bonehead move. Tonight, Yao took a career-high 35 shots to score his 35 points, and the Lakers only sent the help doubles late. I'm sure people will forget about that and look at stats several months from now and conclude that Kwame got torched. He was actually very solid on the post D. The screen-roll D in OT, however, we had a little difficulty with. Putting together any kind of post threat, again, problems. Kwame should have had a double-double but bricked two layups. He finished with 7 points on 3-6 shooting and pulled down 10 boards (4 offensive). He dished 2 assists, had 3 steals and blocked 3 shots. He blocked Yao's turnaround attempt early on. He pulled the chair on Yao, going for a steal and Yao fell and called timeout. He scored a layup off a drive and dish from Kobe. He scored an And-1 off dribble penetration by Luke, but missed the FT, which would have cut the lead to 2. Van Gundy then went to a Hack-a-Kwame with 3:50 left and Kwame missed both FTs. They did it again and he made one. Then, they made the mistake of fouling again and drew a tech. Couple of good plays in the last few seconds, switching on a Rockets guard and giving the foul we had to cut the 3.4 seconds they had in half. Then he stole the inbounds and heaved a half-court that was wide left. Yao missed a couple shots over Kwame to start the OT, then hit his third on an inbounds. Kwame picked up the fifth foul on Yao, posting him up. He traveled trying to attack him off the dribble (needed to gather himself and think about what he was going to do). Poor challenge on a Yao turnaround in the lane, not contesting and Yao tied the score in OT with under a minute left. Great catch on a pass from Kobe that was behind him, then he bricked the layup...throw those suckers down, Kwame. He crammed Yao's shot to the floor with a nice rejection that Kobe then scored off of. Good D on guard penetration, finally contesting the layup attempt. He missed another layup on a Kobe feed on the last possession.

Radmanovic -- -- We went with Vlad starting, but we didn't finish with him. Double overtime game and Vlad gets 15 minutes as a starter. So, it seems to be a token starting spot, kind of like when we had Horry coming off the bench instead of starting. Vlad scored 8 points on 4-7 shooting, had 3 boards and 2 turnovers. We had a mismatch early in the post with Vlad. He got blocked twice by Yao on help, then made a layup on his third attempt. Kobe zipped a pass to him in the lane for a layup. He was blocked again trying to post up a smaller man. He missed a wide open three to start the second. He busted out on the break with Kobe and finished a layup over a smaller man as the Lakers started to roll in the third. On the next possession, he faked a three at the wing, attacked the paint and hit a runner around Yao. That got the crowd going. He didn't see time after that stint.

Cook -- -- Essentially, he was your "starter" at PF. He played the bulk of the minutes and all of the OT, going for 34 minutes. He put together a pretty dang good game, too. He scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting (1-3 from the arc, his one make huge). He grabbed 7 boards (3 offensive) and had 2 blocks and 2 steals. Early on, he drew a foul on Yao off a cut and pass from Bynum, he made one FT. He faced up and hit an elbow jumper. He got swatted by Deke trying to score under the hoop. Sad pass right out of bounds trying to get it to Kobe in the post (things were going very bad for the Lakers at this point). He hit the front of the rim on two three-pointers, a couple steps behind the line. He posted up, attacked the lane to his left and swished a frozen rope fallaway. In OT, he posted up the smaller defender, turned and quickly banked just before Yao could contest. Huge, huge three trailing by 3 with a minute and a half and he drained it a step behind the arc as the Rockets went to the zone for the first time. Great help D rejection on Yao from behind, then he controlled the board.

Bynum -- -- Some up and down minutes for Andrew, which will be the case for him as he learns the game. Drew played 17 minutes, scoring 6 points on 3-7 shooting, just 1 board, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 fouls. The 3 turnovers were probably the biggest problem factor for him in this one. Early on, he crowded Yao on a jumper and tipped the rebound out. He won a jumpball against him at center court, then posted up, faked a couple of times then banked a jumphook over him. He pulled down an offensive board away from Yao, but missed a fallaway jumper. He fed Cook cutting and it led to a foul on Yao. He traveled in the high post changing pivot feet. He kicked out to Kobe for an open jumper. He was called for an offensive foul, using his arms to get position. He got Yao to travel in the post by taking an angle on him as he went up for a shot. He posted up on Deke and got blocked trying to hook with his left over him. He took the post entry, everyone stopped moving, so he went to work, backing down Deke, then getting into his chest to hit a short jumper over him. Luke and Farmar collapsed the D on penetration, Luke hit Bynum and he threwdown to end the third. He blocked Yao on a turnaround. He missed a jumphook over Yao, looked like he got hit with no call. He let Yao set up right under the hoop for a score (he should have fronted him when that low and that would have killed the entry). Good work to get to the hoop with some footwork, but Yao blocked him from behind as Drew didn't explode up to try to finish. He came in the OT with two seconds left, then stayed in for the second OT and won the tip. He traveled on his first post touch and gave the ball back. Great D on Yao on the other end as he forced him into a bad miss on a hook. Phil then subbed him out.

Turiaf -- -- He saw some minor first half action. Howard was completely leaving him to double. He played just 6 minutes and went 0-3 with a couple of offensive boards. Nothing much to mention in this one.

Evans -- -- After Bonzi took it to him in the post for an easy score on his first post up, I though Mo was in for it...but he battled. Some good D on Bonzi's next post up forcing him into a tough shot. Good D again later on when Bonzi tried to attack him off the dribble but Evans got a hand on his shot and the ball as it went out of bounds to us. He scored 3 points in 18 minutes on 1-3 shooting, grabbed 3 boards and had 2 blocks and 1 steal. He bricked a pull-up jumper wide right badly from straight away. Mo got swatted by Deke on his other attempt. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Luke on his last attempt. Big offensive board, he tapped out a missed three and it led to a three by Kobe.

Farmar -- -- He didn't score or even get an assist in 17 minutes, but he really put in a solid bit of D and hustle. Good D on Skip, challenging the shot, then tapping the rebound to a teammate. He got beat on penetration a minute later and Phil called a timeout. Good D again, rotating and hustling, then tracking down the board. Kobe fed him at the wing, he attacked the paint and kicked to Walton, Walton attacked, drew the D and hit Bynum for the dunk (good teamwork started on dribble penetration). He contested on Yao and Drew blocked him, but Jordan was there too, then he jumped back out on his man, contested and we got an air ball...nice hustle again. Both of his misses were from three. He missed a three-pointer short on his first attempt. He missed a three with the shotclock low and needing to get a shot up.

Phil -- -- Phil had his hands full tonight. The Lakers just stank in the fist half. A ton of unforced turnovers, getting swatted a lot. But they found a way and pulled out the double OT win... Early on the Lakers had just 4 points at the 5:39 mark of the first quarter and Phil took a timeout. Yao was controlling the paint on help D, getting to a number of shots... They trailed 29-10 in the first quarter with a number of careless plays leading to a ridiculous 9 first-quarter turnovers... The Rockets blocked 8 shots in the first half and the Lakers gave up 13 turnovers. The Rockets had 5 steals in the first half. They never got another steal and blocked 3 shots in the next 34 minutes. The Rockets shot 59% to the Lakers 34% in the first half. The Lakers ended up shooting 42.6% for the game... The Lakers came out with another ferocious third quarter, hustling and D'ing up to a 25-13 advantage and they trailed by 6 heading into the fourth... The Rockets went to a Hack-a-Kwame with just under 4 minutes left. Phil didn't seem to flinch despite Kwame's 1-4 from the line. (I'm sure Phil will get some mileage out of this in practice)... Kwame got fouled off the ball intentionally with a minute left and the refs were about to give him FTs, but Phil got off the bench and argued at the half court (we're all familiar with this rule from the Shaq days -- you can't do that with under 2 minutes). Van Gundy looked sick. Of course, Grumpy always looks that way. We got one FT and the ball. Kobe sank it... Phil started the overtime with a Kwame, Cook, Luke, Kobe, Smush lineup... The Rockets went to the high pick and roll with Alston on four straight trips in OT, scoring three times before we deflected it out of bounds on that fourth. Then they called a timeout to set up a play. Battier got tapped on an open jumper... The Lakers set up a shot for Kobe to got for a turnaround at the wing out of the TO, he missed long. Decent look with only 2 seconds left... Phil started the second OT with a Bynum, Cook, Walton, Kobe, Smush lineup. Yao had 5 fouls. Bynum won the tip (Phil should have had Drew take the first jumpball in the first OT). We went to Bynum on the first post possession and he was called for a travel. Phil then brought Kwame in on the next deadball... Phil is going to have to ride Kobe a little extra for the next month. Good thing he's starting to finally get back to full speed. "It felt great for me," Kobe said in the Daily News, "and it confirmed for me that my legs are back because that's in the second overtime, I'm playing long minutes and I'm still able to get to the basket and explode."...

[ocho]

only a fool would count out these lakers.
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14-5-3-12

[limchrc]

Thanks for the recap. As always, I'm very glad our team won.

[angel]

Thanks DB!

Another interesting ride! Whoa!
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"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." ~~Martin Luther King Jr.~~

[tw-lakbfan]

What 2 games played against the Rockets!

Kobe is Kobe.

Kwame's hands. :roll: Bye Kobe's 53 pts, 10 rebs, 10 asts triple double.

Props to Smush, Cook. At least they hit shots when counted.

[Addicus]

Great recap DB.

Check this out:

Kobe shot 60.7% from the field. Outrageous! That's a 2 guard man.

Smush really showed some maturity tonight in the second half. I believe his turning point was about 5 games ago when he accepted he and Farmar are a really good combo and started greeting him when he came into the game. He did a great job of attacking in the 2nd half.

I told a friend I was watching the game with "It's a shame after the worse 1st quarter ever played, but we will win this game." I just love this team.

You can see we miss LO big time. The ball movement is terrible on offense sometimes and the mismatches he creates on both ends really make the game easier for everyone who isn't Kobe.

I hate when Cook is on the floor. He came up with some clutch plays, but I hate him on the floor. He had some steals and rebounds fall into his hands tonight that he got but didn't create or go get. He hit that big 3 and got that great swat on Yao on the end, but the majority of the runs Houston went on were when Cook was on the floor. This seems to always be the case. I'd like to see more hustle on his part.

Yao deserves major props. He has really blossomed into a great player. What he did tonight was show us why we don't move Andrew Bynum. It may take a few years but with the right work ethic and teaching bigs with great size, touch, and shot blocking instincts really become a joy to watch. If I remember it took Hakeem a few years playing besides Sampson before he really "got it". Anyways, Yao is a dominant big on both ends and it's great to see because I for 1 said it would never happen. I like being wrong when it comes to someone working hard to succeed and doing it.

Thanks for the write up and peace.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[DancingBarry]

[eniq 0x00]

[KOBEhastheMAGIC]

I thought that one of the major factors was that Luke showed enough ball handling skills and knowledge of the offense to take over the initiating duties from Kobe in the second half, which allowed him to move back to the wing and pick the Rockets apart.....I think that ahs to be our strategy for the future with lamar out even though Kobe is a great initiator

[DancingBarry]

Luke definitely has to have the ball in his hands and running the offense a lot with LO out. Like I said above, he was kind of that second engine in our offense tonight. He knows how to initiate, he knows where and how to attack within the system, when to ball reverse, or where to look when the D takes something away.

I think they want Kobe to get guys going early and then move him to an aggressive scoring role later in the game. We can't get predictable with that and Kobe will certainly need to mix in his scoring/initiating a little smoother than what went down earlier tonight.

[jeremysnow]

great work db......

the rockets had every reason to be the lower energy team from the start. instead, it was the other way around.


couldn't attend the game, so I watched it over the internet, in spots over my office (after hours).

I couldn't take the game in quarters one and two.

I was so upset, that I MUTED the game (being perturbed by Bill Walton's sarcastic remarks (although VERY true at the time).

deke's finger wagging got me to anger management levels

besides, my productivity level tailed off .........

so instead, I began watching it in spots........

by half time the lakers closed the gap......

the gap continued to close....


I'm glad the lakers pulled it off; the lakers also took care of business with turnovers in the second half.

however, the most compelling stat that bothers me:

[jeremysnow]

[- Sean -]

Good work as always DB.

This was the most thrilling game of the season.

It's normal for one team to come out a little flat and take a while to find a flow for themselves on the court. Tonight the Lakers didn't just come out flat, they were in a collective coma. Lobbing softballs over the plate ripe for the swatting. Standing upright as their opponents blew by them towards the paint. I saw no desire. 9 times out of 10, a team playing that poorly for that long does not recover in time to win the ballgame. They were that bad. All that really needs to be said about how terrible they were is: 29 to 10.

In the 2nd, for all Kobe's increased output they only cut into the deficit by a mere point.

I thought considering how thoroughly they were getting worked, there was a chance their streak of dominant third quarters would end tonight. To have the wherewithal to come out out of halftime w/ the focus they exhibited speaks well for their confidence level as a group. They didn't allow the deficit to overwhelm them.

To get so close in the 4th and then fall back by teens is something tough to recover from. It took a lot of energy to get it within striking distance in the first place...yet they battled back and through a couple OT's to the victory.

Cutting down on turnovers was essential...as was creating TO's for Houston. LA had a 14-5 steal advantage.

A team leading 4 of those 14 steals came from Smush Parker. He put great pressure on the ball in the 2nd half + of play. He didn't allow players he was guarding to feel comfortable w/ the ball. It almost seemed like they couldn't exhale until it was dumped into Yao on each possession.

In addition to his defense, he hit multiple key shots. The shots from distance. The ones in the lane. The 4/5 from the line. Nearly all of it came in the pressure cooker. There is no one on this team that I'd have preferred to make all those clutch baskets over him. I feel that Smush needed the makes more than anyone. Though I've been disappointed in his game for most of the season, I'm always in his corner. He was wonderful in the 2nd half and I hope he can build on that. If he can, the Lakers become that much more dangerous when LO returns.

BTW I liked how he had an attempt w/ around 15 seconds remaining in the first OT to break the tie. He missed the shot, but I'm glad he had the opportunity. Because Kobe is so good in the clutch, you always run the risk of having players feel useless down the stretch of games...they may zone out because they figure the teams life or death within the given contest will ride on what Kobe does alone. Now some players don't need to be reminded that they too are depended upon on when it matters...but something tells me Smush may not be one of them. A possession like the one I'm talking about is a quick reminder message to Smush saying that he's both an important and trusted cog of this team. Perhaps keeping that in mind can motivate him to stay a little more consistently sharp.

What can I say about Kobe? 53 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists. We've become accustomed to his excellence. However, recently after games like this (such as the one verse Utah) I remind myself that there are HOF players who I admire deeply that could never put up a stat line like Kobe's on their best of evenings. A good game from Kobe would be the best game for many great players in NBA history. It's pretty special what we're seeing. It'll be over before we know it...so enjoy it while you can.

[eagles nut]

I saw that Yao was complaining about being fouled. Ridiculous. Maybe he was fouled but on 2 of his first 3 "blocks" he got away with contact.

[Sage_10]

Good stuff DB!
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[twoface723]

It was an amazing game. It was good to see my favorite team beat my hometown team (which is my 2nd favorite team). Kobe played great, and Smush came up big in the 4th and the OTs. Yao Ming is a beast...By far the best Center in the NBA. I believe either him and Kobe are the early MVP canidates this year.

[tw-lakbfan]

Lesser turnovers starting from the 2nd half is one of the keys to this Win.

[hoopschick29]

I think we have a ghost on this team:

Samaki Walker, Hands of Stone.

Kwame's got to fight the compulsion to become Kwa-maki Walker Brown.


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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[prisma8slg]

[targetman]

I only got to watch the overtime periods but I read the boards when I came home. On the Houston board they were mad at Deke and said he did something to piss Kobe off and everyone knows that is not a smart thing to do. What did Deke do?
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Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[golakersgo121]

[golakersgo121]

[LongtimeLakerLover]

Someone said they muted the game after a while...I did the same thing. I couldn't even watch it. I had to keep going back after stretches of time. The last time was right at the end of the game, when they were tied before OT. I couldn't believe it.

Wow.

They way Kobe came through - particularly with the dunk in OT - OMg.
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I love LA........WE LOVE IT!

[RYZ]

Thanks, DB.

Grumpy did look sick last night, but at least he's had the courtesy to shave that Chia Pet off the top of his head for us in the viewing audioence.

I'm growing more and more perplexed about Turiaf's minutes by the game. I'll give Cook credit for that three, but other than perimeter shooting, he just doesn't have any reason to be in the game.

Start Ronny alongside Kwame and set the tone early, then deal with your Cook/Vlad substitutions as the situation warrants. Turiaf's not exactly an offensive liability out there. It's not like he's a Rodman/Ben Wallace type: he can hit from 15 - 18'. Get some energy out there to start the game and maybe the Lakers aren't digging themselves out of these first half holes.

Remarkable game.

[Freakout]

I'm sure glad we won but I'm just not happy about the teams play. Without Odom the team is forced to rely on Kobe too much. I know people will try bringing up that they played good offensively without Kobe in those 3 wins that Kobe sit out but that was against 3 bad defensive teams. The Rockets aren't exactly a powerhouse without Tracy but they can still defend. With that said we shouldn't be struggling that bad to beat them at home with them coming off a game the night before.

One positive thing that everyone had to notice. Yao Ming played heavy minutes after playing 41 the night before. This is the same guy that struggled to get up and down the floor a few years ago. So it goes to show that Bynum will get there eventually with his conditioning.