Lakers vs. Houston Rockets 11/14/07 Postgame

That was an escape. There's no other way to put it. After a very strong first half the Lakers should have coasted to any easy victory, but of course, it wasn't to be.

The Lakers played excellent basketball in the opening half. The unselfishness and ball movement was reminiscent of the early season victory over Phoenix. Kobe set the tempo early, almost forcing passes to teammates in situations where he would normally shoot. Guys were missing easy shots, but Kobe did not appear frustrated or try to do too much, he kept making the extra pass and setting his teammates up with easy opportunities.

Kobe came alive in the second quarter. After 'setting the table' in the first quarter, he became much more aggressive in the second. He shot 6-8 from the field, with his only misses coming on deep three point attempts. He made an unbelievable block on Yao Ming midway through the 2nd, coming out of nowhere to block the shot from behind. The block seemed to spread Kobe's killer instinct to the other players, and inspire them to play harder.

The defense in the first half was solid as well. Players were covering for others and rotating well. The team played like they really wanted this win, and you could not even tell that they were playing in the second leg of a back-to-back.

In the second half however, fatigue set in and the Lakers started letting the Rockets back into it. The Lakers became more lax on the defensive end, committing a plethora of bad fouls and bailing out the Rockets on possession after possession. Lamar Odom even found an innovative way to commit bad fouls on the offensive end, picking up three charging fouls, ultimately leading to him fouling out with two minutes left.

With less than thirty seconds to go, Andrew Bynum made a huge defensive rebound and converted two clutch free throws to put Los Angeles up by 5, with 23 seconds to play. Yet the Lakers still almost choked the game away. After a great intentionally missed free-throw by Yao, the Lakers barely managed to avoid overtime when Rafer Alston came up short on a wide-open three point attempt.

Final Thoughts:

Admittedly the second half was ugly, but this is not College Football; there are no 'style points'. The Lakers got the win -and that's all that matters. Wins in Texas are hard to come by for the Lakers, as are wins anywhere on the road, for that matter. So the fact that they were able to sneak out of Houston with a win, one night after a decent road performance in San Antonio, is respectable.

Player of the Game:

Kobe Bryant-
I don't normally like to make Bryant the player of the game. Its almost redundant, on this team he should be player of the game nine out of ten games. But tonight he earned it. He was very unselfish in the first quarter and got his teammates involved early. His 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists were classic Kobe numbers, but its the other things he did that counted. His defense, leadership, and passing, are what made him tonight's POTG.

Honorable Mentions:

Kwame Brown-
His numbers aren't going to look like much in the box score, but he played solid defense on Yao all game. He did the little things, and was the one Laker who came close to containing Yao tonight.

Jordan Farmar-
The kid provided a big spark off the bench. The competition between Farmar and Crittenton for the back-up point guard run seems to be elevating both of their games. He showed alot of guts tonight. He was not afraid to take big shots, and he hit his fair share of them.


The Lakers return home to face the Detroit Pistons at 7:30 (PT) on Friday night.