GAME #37 LA LAKER VS. HOU ROCKETS

[kobesmyhomie]

Ugly, ugly win for us. We got bailed out by Kobe's 3 and 2 missed free throws.

[Baller 24]

Great game guys, both sides played tough and with full intensity. I knew that lead was to good to keep up down the stretch, I thought to myself when the game was entering the forth that its "money time" for Kobe, and he showed it tonight, props for the win, and see you guys next time.

[Crooked-I]

That shot Kobe made is one of the reasons opposing fans don't like him. I can definetly live with that.

[Sedale Threatt]

That's a solid win. Not happy about the defense (53%?!?!) but otherwise, that was nice.

You know what... I'm not mad at all for Drew having 1 rebound. Not at all. This is ridiculous that he can't even get playing time.

But why shouldn't he be held accountable when he fails so miserably at his two primary responsibilities? Phil's made it loud and clear that Andrew is being counted on for rebounding and shot blocking, and he's been sub-par (for him) in both areas. Especially tonight with 1 rebound and 0 blocks in 23 minutes.

No ifs, ands or buts, that's just poor.

So if Phil is indeed trying to teach him a lesson, then I support it 100%. Bench him again and again until the message sinks in -- approach rebounding and protecting the rim with the same verve as you do scoring, and you'll get all the minutes you want.

[TylersLakers]

That's a solid win. Not happy about the defense (53%?!?!) but otherwise, that was nice.

You know what... I'm not mad at all for Drew having 1 rebound. Not at all. This is ridiculous that he can't even get playing time.

But why shouldn't he be held accountable when he fails so miserably at his two primary responsibilities? Phil's made it loud and clear that Andrew is being counted on for rebounding and shot blocking, and he's been sub-par (for him) in both areas. Especially tonight with 1 rebound and 0 blocks in 23 minutes.

No ifs, ands or buts, that's just poor.

So if Phil is indeed trying to teach him a lesson, then I support it 100%. Bench him again and again until the message sinks in -- approach rebounding and protecting the rim with the same verve as you do scoring, and you'll get all the minutes you want.

Yeah, ST, I agree with you - to a point.

But, sometimes, statistics don't tell the whole story. One rebound definitely is something that leaves you wanting more. And 0 blocks, again, leaves you wanting more. But he was a presence. When he was in the game, Houston was a jump shooting team. They were just hot enough to make them. And when you play against the Rockets and Yao Ming, and the opposing team shoots over 50%, you're not going to get too many rebounds. Yao is such a big body, and Drew did such a good job pushing him out that extra foot further from the basket, it's going to allow others to clean up on the boards. And frankly, sometimes, rebounds just don't bounce your way. Hardly any were going in his direction tonight.

All I know, is that in the fourth quarter, Rafer Alston is going to the basket and tossing up floaters, and their not getting contested worth a crap.

It's even more tough when Pau Gasol is having an off game. Yao was scoring on him, and Pau wasn't doing nothing offensively on the other end. I just think Drew has to be in there at that time of game when Pau isn't playing well. I'm willing to bet that pretty much everything except maybe 2 misses were all on Gasol. Andrew did a really nice job of playing position defense and forcing Yao out that extra foot or two.

[Flipdog69xxx]

damn I missed a hell of a game due to location, but at least i saw the highlights. CLUTCH is the very least you can say about that Kobe 3 haha.

[semi-sentient]

Good win, but ugly as hell.

Lots of bad calls against the Rockets I thought.

Kobe shot way too much tonight and it almost cost us.

1 rebound for Bynum?

Props to Radman and Ariza. They were both on fire.

On to San Antonio.

[DubaLakers]

BYNUM 1 REBOUNDS FTW?! IS THIS KID INJURED, IS HE A LONG WAYS AWAY, IS HE JUST DUMB, FTW IS GOING ON WITH BYNUM?

[DEEP3CL]

Great game guys, both sides played tough and with full intensity. I knew that lead was to good to keep up down the stretch, I thought to myself when the game was entering the forth that its "money time" for Kobe, and he showed it tonight, props for the win, and see you guys next time.

Much respect to you too Baller24, the Rockets played hard despite missing Ron and T-Mac. You all class bruh.....................to bad I can't say the same for that myopic Iggymu on your board, dude is missing some brain cells.

[BigAaron909]

Was not expecting this game to be such a nail-bitter...but like they say, a win is a win. Good game, Rockets played very well considering they were missing T-Mac and Artest.

[Jaykoolzboy]

Good game for both side, just too much firepower for our Rocket, especially without Tmac and Ron Ron, I hope its the preview of WCF this year . Kb24 is the man, looking forward to the next match between these 2 teams.

[Sedale Threatt]

Yeah, ST, I agree with you - to a point.

But, sometimes, statistics don't tell the whole story. One rebound definitely is something that leaves you wanting more. And 0 blocks, again, leaves you wanting more. But he was a presence. When he was in the game, Houston was a jump shooting team. They were just hot enough to make them. And when you play against the Rockets and Yao Ming, and the opposing team shoots over 50%, you're not going to get too many rebounds. Yao is such a big body, and Drew did such a good job pushing him out that extra foot further from the basket, it's going to allow others to clean up on the boards. And frankly, sometimes, rebounds just don't bounce your way. Hardly any were going in his direction tonight.

All I know, is that in the fourth quarter, Rafer Alston is going to the basket and tossing up floaters, and their not getting contested worth a crap.

It's even more tough when Pau Gasol is having an off game. Yao was scoring on him, and Pau wasn't doing nothing offensively on the other end. I just think Drew has to be in there at that time of game when Pau isn't playing well. I'm willing to bet that pretty much everything except maybe 2 misses were all on Gasol. Andrew did a really nice job of playing position defense and forcing Yao out that extra foot or two.

I'm just going to have to disagree with you. I also thought Andrew did a respectable job bodying up on Yao -- no easy task, so props for that -- but he wasn't doing much else, certainly not in terms of protecting the basket or the backboard.

I re-watched the first quarter and a half, and there were at least three instances where the Rockets got an easy dunk/layup in part because Andrew failed to recognize and rotate. In two cases, all he had to do was take one quick step and he would have been right there to contest the shot, but he stayed glued to the floor.

Granted, he's not the one giving up penetration, and the majority of his concentration is being spent on Yao. But that's his job description as a 7-foot center. Not only does he have to guard his man, he has to cover up his teammates' mistakes. And he's done a poor job of that this year, with tonight being merely the lastest example.

And I'm simply not going to buy any excuses regarding Andrew's rebounding, especially not about the ball not bouncing his way. No disrespect, but that's just crap. Hitting the glass is about 20% technique and 80% effort. Like Charles Barkley said when asked about his strategy: Go get the damn ball. If Rafer Alston can grab three rebounds, how the hell can Andrew, with his size and length, pull down one? That's just pure laziness on his part. There's no other valid explanation.

All in all, we won the game, and Yao didn't hurt us too much, so it didn't necessarily cost us.

Still, it pisses me off because Andrew can obviously be so much better than he's been in both areas, and consequently we'd be a much better team. I'm just waiting for Andrew to start consistently attacking the game, and putting his energy into the areas we need most need him, instead of focusing so much on offense and loafing around on the other end. That's the way I see it, anyway.

[Sedale Threatt]

Also, I'm not going to say that Pau had a good game, because he didn't. But he did strip the ball on that final shot to bother Yao as time was winding down. That was a great play.

[TylersLakers]

I guess it's agree to disagree. But I do agree with you on a major point. Regardless of the way the ball bounces or anything else, he HAS to rebound better. He does need to start rebounding at a much better rate.

He's been pretty good all season with blocking shots, so I'll just credit this as a bad game on that end of the floor, for sure.

Rebounds and blocking shots are his job, and he has to produce a little more effort when it comes to it.

[Throwback24]

I wept like a baby, I can't believe Kobe hit that shot :$ I can't!

[hermes]

Ugly, ugly win for us. We got bailed out by Kobe's 3 and 2 missed free throws.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_vcFUAU ... re=related

yay lakers win

[lakersfanatic]

awesome game. Once again the lakers put us on a dramatic tight situation where mr. clutch took over.. whew.. when he made that shot.. i just let go a long breathe of air LOL.

Did you guys see that jump ball play when Yao totally picked up Ariza and Ariza laughed afterwards LOL.