ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 3/30/2007

Sounds silly, but I kinda know what he was trying to say...He was just saying that Kobe can basically get good shots off any time.

Same goes for Yao.

 

That's what I meant by "if they do it right". They did go to Yao at the end, and he wasnt effective in that stretch. Getting blocked and throwing bad passes for turnovers. Yao's just gonna get blocked now and then, but he needs to work on his passing game big time.

Yao HEAVED that thing like the full length of the court.
After he did that I turned over to my Laker fan friend an said "Oh its ON now, no more F---ing around with you fools" lol

 

Obviously ESPN is more interested in another 50+ game from Bryant. This is totally OK to me as long as the referees were giving Yao calls and we got the win!

 

damn!!! just like me.

 

LOL, that pic is awesome. do you have the original though? i want to edit one too.

 

A hard win on the road. one thing that I hope the team should improve is how to play the 4th qt. We were leading 8 and did not give enough energy. Remember we had 10 more rebounds into the 4th qt than Lakers but only 3 more in the end of the regular time. Mainly because Chuck was off the court due to the foul trouble. We need to secure the board in the key time. If we did that, that should be an easy win without OT.

 

good game, a bunch of lakers fans are crying foul at yao's "moving" pick and the call on tmac's 3. to a point where they said kobe didnt even foul tmac (to their defense its hard to tell from one camera angle)

i saw the replay of the pick. it was legit i think. yao hands the ball off to tracy and steps over to block kobe. yao did bunny hop over to stop kobe but his feet are not moving when kobe makes contact with him. kobe trys to sell an illegal pick thinking he would get the call but he didnt. Yao's upper body did move after the contact but that is more due to the laws of physics when a 200+ pound object runs into you. I think the refs anticipated what kobe might do considering Yao had 5 fouls at that point and Yao's screen was good enough so they call the foul on Kobe.(there has been a whole lot worse screens I have seen not called as moving)

there was bad calls both ways, juwan being tripped and having it called a travel and this was in the late stage of overtime as well. There was a foul on rafer and kirk snyder I have never seen called before in my life, yet it was called twice in this game (once on each player) kirk passes the ball to yao cuts on the baseline and is called for the offensive foul, same thing with rafer. i couldnt see if either player stuck a "stiff arm" out to create space or what but neither defender fell back in fact they were still trailing the player at the same distance. It was the first time I have ever seen an offensive foul outside of a moving pick be called on a player without the ball or receiving the ball. (yao has never passed to rafer on that cut and kirk was close to being out of bounds as well from where yao positioned himself when he made the cut)

of course the lakers fan still complain about how yao just went to the line all night long and so i look at the box score, the rockets shot 3 more fts than the lakers, yes 3 more fts! they just happened to make more fts than the lakers did. (lamar odom missed more FTs on his own than the entire rocket team)in fact the rockets were called for more fouls in the game than the lakers were.

real good game i just wish the rockets were able to seal the deal in regulation, but it was good to see that they did not lose composure after an amazing scoring burst and shot by kobe and being down 4 in OT with a minute left

 

Wild guess. Yao cried loud in last lose to Laker in 2 OT for foul problems, so ref decided to give him some props. Only call for stars, sadly Lamar Odem is no comparable to Tmac.

 

IF you check T mac and Yao's efficiency, you will find out that they out efficient two kobe bryant and 1 lamar odom.

 

LA Times game article

Kobe's 53 not enough for Lakers
Bryant has another big game, but Rockets win in overtime, 107-104
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
March 31, 2007

Rockets 107, Lakers 104 (OT)It wasn't an embarrassing loss, the type that would make Phil Jackson light into his players again at their next practice.

Instead, it was a deeper defeat, the type that didn't quite set in until it had ended — another loss at home, this time to a more polished team that simply outlasted the Lakers.

The Lakers came back from a 12-point deficit in the final few minutes of regulation to force overtime, but eventually lost to the Houston Rockets, 107-104, Friday at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant did what he could after an icy 3 1/2 quarters and finished with 53 points. It wasn't enough.

Afterward, down the hall from a quiet locker room, Jackson was more pleased with the effort in losing to a Rockets team that has won 11 of its last 13 games.

"They can go in the showers and know they did what they had to do," he said. "Sometimes it doesn't work out."

The Lakers (38-34) couldn't capitalize on a loss by the Denver Nuggets and remained 2 1/2 games ahead of them for sixth place in the Western Conference.

The Lakers trailed, 75-67, going into the fourth quarter, and didn't show much fire until Bryant began heating up in the final four minutes.

He was 11 for 30 until turning around his night, almost bringing the Lakers with him.

He made a three-pointer to bring them within 88-79 with 4:04 left in the fourth quarter. Then he looped a shot over Yao Ming. Then he made two free throws. A 14-foot fadeaway. Another three-pointer. Two more free throws.

Then came the apparent game-saver for the Lakers.

With the Lakers trailing by three, Yao fouled Kwame Brown as soon as he touched the ball on an inbounds play, sending a 41.7% free-throw shooter to the line with 15.5 seconds left in regulation.

Brown missed the first free throw, and then the second, but Bryant took the long rebound and, with barely a look at the basket, made a three-pointer from the side with 11.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 95-95.

An exuberant Bryant chest-thumped Lamar Odom at midcourt.

"Just got a lucky bounce," Bryant said. "Kwame should get an assist on the play."

The Lakers looked like they would topple the Rockets in overtime, taking a four-point lead. It didn't last.

The Rockets took a one-point lead when Yao hit a layup with 22.3 seconds to play.

Then Bryant was called for traveling after he changed pivot feet just past half court with 16.6 seconds left in overtime. Bryant was apparently bothered by Shane Battier and Yao Ming trapping him.

"I think he did travel," Jackson said. "They made the correct call. But a lot of times they don't make that call in that situation.'

Said Bryant: "They can make that call any time of the day."

Rafer Alston made two free throws with 14.4 seconds left in overtime for a 107-104 Houston lead, and Bryant missed an off-balance 28-foot three-pointer with 2.9 seconds left.

"They deserved to win in regulation," Bryant said. "They won in overtime."

Bryant made 19 of 44 shots. Odom had 16 points, 17 rebounds and four assists before fouling out in overtime.

Yao finished with 39 points, making 17 of 21 free throws, and Tracy McGrady had 30 points and 10 assists despite making seven of 24 shots, including a miss in the final second of regulation.

KEYS TO THE GAME

• The Rockets lost a 12-point lead toward the end of regulation, then overcame a four-point deficit to win in overtime.

• Yao Ming was an all-around force for Houston. He had 39 points, made 17 of 21 free throws, took 11 rebounds and had four blocked shots.

• Tracy McGrady didn't shoot very effectively — seven for 24 on the night — but he had 30 points thanks primarily to making 15 of 16 free throws. He also had 10 assists.

— MIKE BRESNAHAN

 

T-Mac is second in the league for Forward efficiency.

Only LeBron James is higher.

 

Hehe. I love how that writer completely twisted Kobe's words around to mean something entirely different than the original context.

Oh by the way...it was probably already mentioned in the thread, but man Tolbert really showed off what a dumbass he is.

"So, Tom, if you're the Lakers...are you thinking what I'm thinking here? Four-letter word."

in response: "Foul?...no, I don't think they foul in this situation. They just need to play really strong def----" blah blah.

He was obviously referring to K-O-B-E, but Tom is just a little slow.

 

So, Kobe is basically saying that he travels all the time?

 

so one of the plays that keeps replaying in my mind today....

when smush parker let his guard down for a second as he was thinking "timeout", and in comes rafer to smack the ball out of his hands, ricocheting off of smush's foot out of bounds.

right as the balls rolling out of bounds, rafer just starts walking towards the rocket's basket, pointing to in the direction of rockets possession and nodding his head with just the most hilarious smile like 'I got him...yeah, I got him'

what a heads up play that was. veteran mindfulness. how sweet it is.

 

beauty and beast

couple of pictures taken by chinese volleyball players and yaoming before laker game.

http://langpingblog.blog.sohu.com/40137968.html

http://langpingblog.blog.sohu.com/40143150.html

 

LOL I really have to watch how I say things around yall!

 

I don't want to brag but I almost called it...I got the 53 from kobe right but missed the score by a little bit....still pretty good eh?

 

Tmac gets to the basket a lot too. 16 ft? i don't know what more u want..
his shot is off. thats it. but he better work on that.. hes becoming a streaky player instead of explosive

 

What an awesome game last night...Kobe, well, I think he's an ass but damn, what a clutch player...The rockets just played horrible in the 4th and man, where was T-mac's shot? Yao, he needs to hold on to the ball, but overall, happy with the win...Mostly because Rockets of old would have lost...I love this team more and more...