<div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="purple">LA Lakers</font> VS <font color="red">Houston Rockets</font></div> When: Sunday February 6th, 3:30 PM (EST) Where: Houston, Toyota Center Local TV: ABC <div align="center">Predicted Starters <font color="purple">Lakers</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="purple">Chucky Atkins, Caron Butler, Jumaine Jones, Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm</font></font></font></div> <div align="center"><font color="red">Rockets</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="red">Bob Sura, David Wesley, Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Yao Ming</font></font></font></div> Keys to The Game For LA <ul> [*]Caron Butler steps it up again. In the absence of Kobe Bryant, Caron Butler has stepped it up, taking over the team and leading it in scoring to a decent record without their All-World star. If Butler again puts up 20-25, the Lakers will have a chance. [*]Coaching. In their last game against the Spurs, interim coach Frank Hamblen made some questionable coaching decisions en route to their loss. He played Luke Walton 30 minutes, and Walton was able to return only mediocre results. Hamblen has to smarten up against a fairly deep Rockets team. [*]Three-Pointers. The Lakers have a few three-point shooters in Jones, Atkins, and Cook. Against the Rockets who do a bad job of guarding shooters because of double-teaming, these guys will have to hit their shots. [/list] Keys To The Game For Houston <ul> [*]Defense. The Lakers are a good offensive team and the Rockets will have to limit their transition points tonight. [*]Yao/McGrady come up big. The duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady played great last game against the Timberwolves, combining for 63 points and 27 rebounds. If they can combine for just 50 and 20, the Rockets should have an easy time. [*]Support Players. Last game, the players outside of Yao and McGrady combined for 56 points. All starters reached double digit scoring. The role players will have to do it again tonight. [/list] Game Outlook The Rockets are on a three-game winning streak, after a successful road swing where they finished 3-1. Back home against the Lakers without Kobe Bryant, the Rockets should take full advantage and ride the streak. There is no answer for Yao on the Lakers team and he should have a big game, especially at home where he thrives. If Sura, Howard and Wesley can combine for 30 or more points and McGrady scores that amount by himself, we can call the game ours. Prediction Rockets-105 Lakers-93
Team has improved Lakers has no Rudy Kobe is out Rox playing at home I see no reason why we should lose whatsoever unless Sura keeps trying to be a hero when he should be passing to the open man.
^^^^Lol @ lashing out at sura.........but if we can contain Odom, this should be a pretty easy win for us P.S. trip the game is a 2:30 start on Sunday......they wouldn't televise a natl. t.v. game against the superbowl......peace
P.S. trip the game is a 2:30 start on Sunday......they wouldn't televise a natl. t.v. game against the superbowl......peace
Yeah I hope its not around the same time as the Super Bowl, cause I know I'll be watching that instead of this. The key players for Lakers here are Odom and Butler, both phenomenal players that are pretty fast and powerful for their position. However, if McGrady does a good job defensively and actually is aggressive on offense, Caron Butler wouldn't be an issue for us. Odom however, is. It's fairly obvious that he'll be drawing a ton of fouls on Yao, like Trenton Hassel of Minnesota, so unless Yao watches his fouls, our low post will be weak. So Howard must make sure he does a good job defensively for him. Therefore, I'm counting more on Sura, Barry, and Wesley for some support to keep this game in our favor.
Sorry about the mistake. I forgot to edit the time of the game. It will be a 3:30PM Eastern start. Edited now.
With our current form, we're gna win. The only chance the lakers have is if they start raining threes. Hopefully chucky and cook won't have hot hands then everything will go our way
*crosses fingers* hope we do good today, it would be a good win and hopefully the eagles win too, it would be a great day
The Lakers do have an answer for Yao, because they will try to push the ball in this game and wear Yao down. The key to winning this game will be determined by who controls the tempo. The Rockets like to play a half court set and limit their opponents shot attempts. The Lakers want to push the ball and run to take advantage of their speed and matchups. The Lakers have improved on their dependancy to shoot the 3ball since Rudy T stepped down. They've been more aggressive taking the ball to the hoop and trying to draw fouls. If the Lakers can control tempo and keep Chris Mihm out of foul trouble they have a chance. The player who worries me on the Rockets is Padgett. He's been on fire the last few games off the bench, and is stroking it from the perimeter. The Lakers are one of the worst perimeter teams and I can see Padgett giving the Rockets 10 or 11 off the bench. The last Rocket game, Yao seemed to have changed his approach and was very aggressive on offense. He was working extremely hard to get position and was banging with Kandi, EJ and whoever else the TWolves threw at him. He was diving for loose balls, going after rebounds, and contesting shots. He also had a sweet one handed dunk off a put back. Is Yao finally developing an 'edge' to his game. I predict a close game, possibly OT, with the Lakers stealing a win 101-97.
I hope the Rockets will have a dominant attitude in this game. The Rockets are not known to to take advantage of weaker teams like the Bobcats, Hawks and the Knicks and teams that don't have their superstars like the Hornets. It shows also on their home game record. Good thing they fared well on the road. I expect a close game on this one with the Rockets winning. The Rockets must stop Odom and Butler from wrecking havoc. They must also not forget the Lakers role players who shoots well on the 3s.
well right now rockets 50 lakers 39.........Sura's playing great and we're moving the ball really well, Lakers have no answer for Yao, I like how we're getting him the ball off the low pick in the post
Pretty good first half. In the first quater we started off really well, but faded towards the end. The exact flip-flop for the 2nd quater. We have to stay strong the whole game, and not fade at points. Defense looked good, along with our passing, shooting could have been better though. Sura is fine at point guard, its our backup point that needs help, Strickland isnt working. I still say we should go with Barrett. Juwan Howard rebounded good, but he needs to hit his open shots consistently. In the second half we have to put them away.
I swear we should be blowin these dudes out......lakers up by 1 with 1:54 left I will kill myself if the rockets lose this game Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...........i'm Still Alive And Bryan Cook Still Sucks!!! <font color="red">Use the edit feature next time.- Trip</font>
Rockets played good offensively in the second half until the end when they faded off. Defensively the whole second half they were sad, scoring was keeping us distant from them early, and as the lakers scored more and more they made it a game. Yao fell off in the second half also, but came up big towards the end. Good win but should have been alot easier.
i think towards the end bobby sura was tryign to be the hero too much even though he had a good first half maybe he shouldnt have been trying to throw up all those floaters
Close win for Houston. They should have held on to that 16 point lead. Yao had a great game, I was a little dissapointed in T-Mac though. They can't let a team like the Lakers without Kobe come back on them like that.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting THE DREAM:</div><div class="quote_post">I swear we should be blowin these dudes out......lakers up by 1 with 1:54 left</div> Are you kidding me? haha. Lucky win. Free Throws saved you this time! muwhahahahaha.
