Lakers V Rockets Yao up to his season average in shots already..If he took more shots then maybe the Rockets would have an even better record. Lakers 44 Rockets 57 halftime Yao 16 points 7-10 shooting 4 rebounds Jim Jackson has 16 as well I'm not even a Rockets fan and It's frustrating to not see Yao get these amount of shots each game.God knows what it must be like for you Rocket fans.
What is wrong with these Lakers? They don't even look energized. They are playing at home on Christmas day! The Rockets are really bringing it to them right now and are up on the Lakers by 13 at the half. I'm not saying the Lakers are going to lose, but if I was a Lakers fan, I would be disgusted by the effort.
the game is on rite now?? O NO!! so what was said in the halftime interview....and can someone assess Al Michaels basketball commentary...
Gray asked him some tough questions. The one that stood out to me was: "You have chosen to opt out of your contract at the end of the year, is your mind set on what you want to do next year or are you still open?" Kobe replied by saying he is still open. He has never been a free-agent before and said he liked the oppurtunity to test the Free Agency market. Gray also asked him if basketball will ever mean as much after all his "off-court" stuff. Kobe replied "yes and no".
thanx Rudeezy...I didn't even realize the game was today until I read your halftime recap....Rockets haven't scored a single basket since I started watching
The Rockets played a great first half. They only had three turnovers and were getting some wide open jumpshots. Yao played a fantastic first half and clearly won the battle with Shaq in the first half. Yao also showed some range hitting some 22 foot jumpshots. The reason they were having success against the Lakers on offense was they were using Yao to set ball picks. Shaq would help down low, leaving Yao wide open for a jumpshot. After playing a great first half, they come out of halftime playing horrible. They had two turnovers in the first few minutes and the Lakers went on a 10-0 run. Jeff Van Gundy just called a timeout, the score is 57-54 with 7:37 to go in the third quarter.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting allnet:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao up to his season average in shots already..If he took more shots then maybe the Rockets would have an even better record. Lakers 44 Rockets 57 halftime Yao 16 points 7-10 shooting 4 rebounds Jim Jackson has 16 as well I'm not even a Rockets fan and It's frustrating to not see Yao get these amount of shots each game.God knows what it must be like for you Rocket fans.</div> You are right it is frustrating. It is even frustrating now watching the Rockets play. They did a great job of attacking the basket and using pick and rolls in the first half. It is like they are lost right now. They have run maybe two pick and rolls and they are settling for nothing but jump shots.
I agree Dex. They should start running a lot more pick n rolls with either Mobley or Francis coming off Yao's screen. Shaq was not stepping out and they were hitting wide open shots. Lakers right back in this one. Its about time they started playing.
Does anybody find Francis's celebration with Taylor a little.....weird....u kno what i'm talking about
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting notMuchgame:</div><div class="quote_post">Does anybody find Francis's celebration with Taylor a little.....weird....u kno what i'm talking about </div>I didn't see it. What the hell are you talking about?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">I didn't see it. What the hell are you talking about?</div> I think it was the play where Taylor stole the ball and got a dunk. Him and Francis ran up to each other like they were going to do a jumping chest bump....but then francis turned around in mid air and threw his backside into Taylors frontside....i dunno, call me immature but I thought that was kinda wierd...i guess i was the only one who noticed it
The Rockets get a huge win tonight over the Lakers, 99-87. I am truly at a loss for words. Not only did we beat the Lakers but it is even sweeter that we beat them at home on Christmas. The Rockets overall played a great game. The Rockets did a good job tonight overall of getting Yao the ball.(Why can't we do that every night?). The Rockets did a good job in the 4th quarter when Yao went to the bench early with 5 fouls. The Rockets shot 36-81 (44.4%) from the field compared to Lakers 32-85 (37.6%). The Rockets shot an amazing 42.9% from beyond the arc. Another good thing the Rockets did was limit their turnovers. They only had 12 throughout the course of the entire game. Rockets Players Steve Francis - 22 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals Cuttino Mobley - 15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists Jim Jackson - 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists Kelvin Cato - 5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks Yao Ming - 18 points, 8 rebounds, 5 fouls, 2 blocks Maurice Taylor - 14 points, 8 rebounds Lakers Players Gary Payton - 13 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals Kobe Bryant - 23 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals Devean George - 11 points, 3 assists Stanislav Medvedenko - 10 points, 7 rebounds Shaquille O'Neal - 22 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks Horace Grant - 2 points, 11 rebounds
This was a good game to watch, but somethin is wrong with the Lakers. I don't know how but Malone is a HUGE part of the team. Having Payton, Shaq, and Kobe just isn't enough Francis got hot in the 4th quarter and managed to get to the line through out the game. Lakers seemed tired, out of energy or somethin, Kobe didn't played like himself and they were doin a great job on containing Shaq. Payton played a decent game, and Slava was tryin too hard to start of the game. Jim Jackson got hot early to help the Rockets get the lead. I don't know why the Lakers went away from George... Overall, just a bad game by the Lakers, didn't seem as if they had all the energy because they had MORE than enough chances to get the lead back... Good game tho, got close, but Rockets just pulled away. What a nice way to end Christmas basketball. Merry Christmas
Another tough game by Houston, congrats Rockets fans. I don't like this matchup for the Lakers if they happen to meet in the playoffs this year. Kobe needed to take his game up to another level tonight and he dissapointed badly - 23 points, but on 26 shots. OUCH. The Lakers played some of their trademark un-inspired basketball for most of the game, but I take nothing away from the Rockets, they are one tough team to deal with.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting notMuchgame:</div><div class="quote_post">Does anybody find Francis's celebration with Taylor a little.....weird....u kno what i'm talking about </div> LoL, i think he forgot to turn around when he jumped up because francis did, so thats why it looked wierd ..
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Shaq has a great game and destroys Yao. Lakers win by 15+</div>
It's funny how a team can play so disatrous and 3 Hall of Famers struggling to find their identities on the court. This Laker team that played in front of national TV, on Christmas Night, and at Staples Center where they play so dominant, just looked completely FLAT on all categories of the game. In the first half, Houston beat us on FG shooting, offensive and defensive rebounds, second chance opportunities, and our defense as a team was just straight up pathetic and horrible. And it was just miserable watching Steve Francis just go over Devean George to dunk the ball as the buzzer sounded for halftime. In the second half, the Lakers finally came out and forced the Rockets to shoot contested shots, played really tough on defense, and they actually went on a big run to actually take a one point lead late in the game. But once again, Houston just hit better shots than we did down the stretch, and forced the Lakers to hit contested shots in that final period. Dang, that huge Laker drought for that 5 minutes of the game just absolutely was draining to watch. Clearly this team is missing Malone's presence on the court, not only with his offensive contributions with his double doubles a night, but he also gives the Lakers a controlling advantage on the glass. Well after this Boston game, he'll be back...and maybe I'll start relaxing soon enough. I don't see this team beating Boston, and it'll be the first time I'm going against my team in the next preview.
