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I'd love to see the Rockets sweep the Lakers or beat them 4-1. That would make our performance against Houston look even better.Go Rockets. Like you say, the better they do after beating us, the better we look.
I'd love to see the Rockets sweep the Lakers or beat them 4-1. That would make our performance against Houston look even better.

Well, our lack of playoff experience didn't help any, but Houston is clearly a VERY good team. My admiration continues to grow for Rick Adelman, who is probably the most underrated coach in the NBA.Yep. Tonight's loss by LAL helped with the healing process of losing the series against HOU. It makes me think we didn't lose because of a lack of poise or being a young team.
It didn't look to me like the Lakers watched any tape from the Portland series. They didn't try to front Yao and they paid the price.
They tried to guard Artest with a quick small forward and paid the price.
Scola had multiple open looks from exactly the same spot he killed Portland from. He didn't make them pay, but he will if that continues.
The Lakers looked like shit. They are going to have to bring it a lot harder in game 2.
BTW, Bynum sure did play Yao to a standstill. And by that I mean that Yao took his lunch money, bought candy with it, then ate that candy in front of him.
Ya, our inexperience did hurt us in game one if nothing else.
qft. Pretty much hit on every point I was thinking.
Except that Aaron Brooks must be soiling himself over his luck. First he gets to go against Blake, and then Fisher. Probably the two point guards in the playoffs least capable of guarding a speedster.
Well, there's always hope that the Rockets beat LA and he gets Kidd in the WCF. But Barea seems to guard PG's a lot, so that may not be the advantage it has been.
Bynum and Gasol are such crappy defenders. After watching Przybilla and Oden bust their asses against Yao, I was actually pretty frustrated with the Lakers. They didn't even really try to stop him. They sort of just fumbled around and waited for Houston to forget about him. (Which of course they did too often.)
BTW--Roy just looks better and better to me after watching Kobe jack up a ridiculous number of shots to get his points. Roy looked so effortless against this team that I was beginning to wonder if the defense of Artest and Battier was overrated. Sure didn't look that way tonight.
qft. Pretty much hit on every point I was thinking.
Except that Aaron Brooks must be soiling himself over his luck. First he gets to go against Blake, and then Fisher. Probably the two point guards in the playoffs least capable of guarding a speedster.
Well, there's always hope that the Rockets beat LA and he gets Kidd in the WCF. But Barea seems to guard PG's a lot, so that may not be the advantage it has been.
Bynum and Gasol are such crappy defenders. After watching Przybilla and Oden bust their asses against Yao, I was actually pretty frustrated with the Lakers. They didn't even really try to stop him. They sort of just fumbled around and waited for Houston to forget about him. (Which of course they did too often.)
BTW--Roy just looks better and better to me after watching Kobe jack up a ridiculous number of shots to get his points. Roy looked so effortless against this team that I was beginning to wonder if the defense of Artest and Battier was overrated. Sure didn't look that way tonight.
lol the refs just fucking LOVE Houston, I swear to god. 29-19 free throw advantage, 26-14 fouls called (almost DOUBLED), and this is IN LA. That is just ridiculous (and yes, I realize a lot of those were intentional fouls at the end of the game...it still favors Houston by a bunch). Of course it wasn't the only reason why LA lost, but it certainly contributed.
If this keeps up, you might as well stick a fork in LA. There hasn't been ONE game in the playoffs this year where they didn't get the whistles.
I thought Artest might have just been trying to get into Kobe's head saying Roy is harder to defend, but he might have just been stating the truth.
why are yao's minutes an issue? it's the playoffs. there is plenty of rest between games. there are no back to backs. yao has played 40+ minutes four games in a row now with no ill effects. his minutes are not a problem. he is capable of playing 40+ minutes a night in playoff scenarios.I'm rooting for the Rockets. They looked good tonight. No way they beat the Lakers in this series. However, I now believe they can win another game or two and force this thing to 6 or 7 games and make things interesting. I didn't think that a few hours ago. I thought Lakers 4-0 or 4-1. It still may go down like that, but if Houston wins a game or two at home we at least have a series.
Lakers will get Gasol off in Game 2 and win by 12-20 pts. No question.
Yao plays 40 minutes again tonight (even after the collision) Adelman seems content to let this guy play until the wheels fall off.
Just imagine how fucking raw we would be with a HEALTHY TMAC in the lineup! Wow, just wow.!
yao played in the first 12 games of the 22 game win streak.Not so fast. The identity of this team w/o T-Mac might be what makes them tick. They realize they have to play a physical, grind it out, one possession at a time brand of basketball and they've all bought into it. I've never seen them play defense like this with T-Mac. Well, maybe during that 20 game win streak last year. I should revise that - I've never seen this team play defense like this when Yao AND T-Mac are playing together.
Plus, what do you do with Artest and Battier if T-Mac was healthy?
why are yao's minutes an issue? it's the playoffs. there is plenty of rest between games. there are no back to backs. yao has played 40+ minutes four games in a row now with no ill effects. his minutes are not a problem. he is capable of playing 40+ minutes a night in playoff scenarios.
he hasn't and he won't. in the playoffs there is always a day between games and sometimes even two days. he'll get plenty of rest.He might be able to do this for one series. But two is pressing your luck. We've seen Yao tire and wear down before and it's ugly. Tonight was his 4th straight game of 40 minutes or more. That's just crazy for a man his size.
If this series goes 6 or 7 games and Yao keeps logging 40 minutes, he WILL wear down - it's inevitable.
