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ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 5/4/2009 (Playoffs Round 2, Game 1)

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Clutch, May 1, 2009.

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AvgJoe Member

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Firebomb525 said:

The outcome of this game will most likely show us whether we have a chance or we'll just be another victim of the Mamba and his crew.

IF we play hard, with Artest and Battier playing nigh impenetrable defense, and Yao getting his touches and shots, I can see this game coming down to the wire.

"2 seconds left on the clock, Lakers up by two...Scola inbounds it to Wafer, takes the shot- IT'S IN FOR THREE!!! THE ROCKETS HAVE DONE IT!!! THEY'VE STOLEN ONE RIGHT UNDER THE LAKER'S NOSES!

"He's not a cookie, he's not a cracker, he's-"

"VON WAFER!!!"
Click to expand...

Don't think Wafer would be shooting it...

#121 AvgJoe, May 2, 2009

wxzcool Member

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Go Rocket!, Go Yao!
BEAT LA FAKERS!!

#122 wxzcool, May 2, 2009
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http://photocdn.sohu.com/20090502/Img263732109.jp

#123 wxzcool, May 2, 2009
BornToWIN Member

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With low expectation, cheer for every fighting moment of the Rox!
Attitude and will for victory means a lot!

#124 BornToWIN, May 2, 2009
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The key to winning this game is both Scola and Wafer have to put up big numbers. Yao will do his job, Artest will jack up shots which he usually does. Oh and we never had the Battier of today in the regular season. Battier can drain 3 pointers left and right and is more active on the court than before. WAFERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

#125 1individual, May 2, 2009
Yaojig Member

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Hold Kobe!!! And we have a win which will scare the lakers!!!!

#126 Yaojig, May 2, 2009
Zhourunfa0221 New Member

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we'll crush LA, we'll crush Kobe...

#127 Zhourunfa0221, May 2, 2009

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1.3 Billion People will watch this game on other side of Earth.
Hopefully referees feel a little bit pressure.

#128 A13, May 2, 2009
YallMean Member

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We ought to be thinking one game or one quarter at a time. We are clearly out-talented in the match ups with our 23 million dollars on the shelf. We just have to be more focused than the Lakers. They are capable of making runs at a stretch and shut us out. We can't let that happen. Working harder is our only option. One quarter a time, we will prevail.

#129 YallMean, May 2, 2009
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<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oO7AOOqgVxE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oO7AOOqgVxE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

#130 BaiHua, May 2, 2009
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Personally, I do not think that they should put Artest on Kobe defensively. Artest seems to get caught in the individual match up and looses his cool. We need him to stay focused and play within the offense and not try to force jumpers. The best thing would be for him to refrain from taking jump shots and instead use his strength to get to the basket and hopefully get some key people like Gasol in foul trouble. Also Scola is going to have to keep his intensity going from the Portland series. The guy plays with so much passion, and he has really stepped up his game in the post season. I really do think that the Rockets need to run some plays for him because I am not sure that many of the teams are expecting him to be a primary scorer. Lets hope that Brooks can use his speed as a mismatch to out quick Fisher.

#131 H-TOWN, May 2, 2009
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King of 40 Acres said:

BEAT LA!
Click to expand...

http://hiphotos.baidu.com/%BB%F0%BC.../pic/item/d72765d417741622a18bb786.jpeg?v=tbs
BEAT LA!Lakers and Rockets have the most fans in China,so let's see what will happen...

#132 YAOandMSC, May 3, 2009
YAOandMSC Member

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YAOandMSC said:

http://hiphotos.baidu.com/%BB%F0%BC.../pic/item/d72765d417741622a18bb786.jpeg?v=tbs
BEAT LA!Lakers and Rockets have the most fans in China,so let's see what will happen...
Click to expand...

#133 YAOandMSC, May 3, 2009

Kwame Member

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1 thing I noticed when the Lakers were playing Utah is that if you can penetrate and attack the basket, there is a good chance of getting their front line into foul trouble. Hopefully, the Rockets noticed that as well.

#134 Kwame, May 3, 2009
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wxzcool said:

Go Rocket!, Go Yao!
BEAT LA FAKERS!!

Click to expand...

anything is possible, that includes a sweep by the LAkers

#135 adoo, May 3, 2009
mwpq Member

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future teller predicted huston will beat LA 4:2 in 2 round.

The guy has a 80% right rate to predict result of the first round.

Link:
http://club.sports.sohu.com/r-basketball-2228213-0-88-900.html

#136 mwpq, May 3, 2009
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NBA 2009 Playoffs: Kobe Bryant vs Houston Rockets Preview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTgeNV10Zws&fmt=22

#137 nevetslc, May 3, 2009
vcchlw Member

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nevetslc said:

NBA 2009 Playoffs: Kobe Bryant vs Houston Rockets Preview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTgeNV10Zws&fmt=22
Click to expand...

Dude that's not a preview. That's a Kobe @ss-kissing vid.

#138 vcchlw, May 3, 2009

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mwpq said:

future teller predicted huston will beat LA 4:2 in 2 round.

The guy has a 80% right rate to predict result of the first round.

Link:
http://club.sports.sohu.com/r-basketball-2228213-0-88-900.html
Click to expand...

hopefully it's true

#139 khanhdum, May 3, 2009
macmackal Member

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askball said:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bryant-battier-artest-2384973-lakers-houston

Good riddance to the boring Utah Jazz, whose most compelling storyline in the first round against the Lakers was counting healed fibers in Mehmet Okur’s lame hamstring.

Hello to the intriguing Houston Rockets, whose second-round series with the Lakers will be the teams’ first playoff matchup since 2004 and provides all kinds of fresh material.

• Who would have thought that defenseless Lakers cast-offs Von Wafer and Brian Cook would come together as teammates on a defense-first team?

• How much of Aaron Brooks’ success arises from opposing point guards hesitating for a moment in anticipation of him cracking wise because of his facial resemblance to Chris Rock?

• Is Luis Scola’s Kevin McHale-like game actually more impressive than his Sasha Vujacic-length hair?

• How hilarious a buddy movie could Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo make together?

Then there are the two most interesting Rockets of them all: Ron Artest and Shane Battier, who will provide one of the most curious challenges of Kobe Bryant’s NBA career.

Never before has Bryant faced a playoff series against a team with two perimeter defenders of this caliber. Artest was the 2004 NBA Defensive Player of the Year; Battier finished third in that voting last season.

And Artest and Battier go about their business in such different ways that it makes for a game within the game for Bryant. This is like going up against the intensity of Mike Ditka and the acumen of Bill Walsh. Or trying to escape Ray Lewis and Zach Thomas. Or having to predict what Tony Romo will do and then outmaneuver Peyton Manning, too.

On a related note: Artest now weighs 260 pounds, which easily qualifies him for gridiron duty.
The buzz entering this series is going to be a lot about Artest, because he has that reputation for being a little crazy. And the last time the Lakers played in Houston, Artest was a little crazy – talking a truckload of trash down the stretch to Bryant, who rallied the Lakers to victory.

Here’s the reality: Rockets coach Rick Adelman erred in that March 11 game by not going back to Battier after Bryant took it to Artest most of that fourth quarter. Battier is the better defender now, and Bryant will need to prepare much more for Battier’s intellectual positioning than Artest’s manic reaching and grabbing.

When it comes down to it, there is no greater storyline in this series to come than Battier vs. Bryant.

Artest did not guard Bryant much in the final Rockets-Lakers regular season game on April 3. Battier was back on the beat – even though Bryant was so fired up about heating up against Battier on March 11 that Bryant went so far as to make a mocking gesture to Houston fans about Battier’s heralded hand-in-the-face defense.

Battier, as a February feature story about him in the New York Times plainly noted, garnered a decent amount of celebrity for his handiwork after Bryant shot 11 of 33 on March 16, 2008, in Houston’s 22nd consecutive victory.

Even though Bryant and Artest go back as far to have played teenage ball against each other (and Bryant tried really, really hard to get the Lakers to trade for Artest at times), Bryant and Battier have the more relevant history now.

The latest twist in their saga was Phil Jackson giving Bryant a copy of that New York Times article by Michael Lewis, who wrote the “Moneyball” baseball book. The feature basically celebrates all the little things Battier does with his big brain to render Bryant shockingly ineffective to his team.

The tone of the article was much different than the one rising from Bryant’s voice in 2003 after he hit a winning shot over Battier in Memphis.

“I torch Shane every time I play against him,” Bryant said then.

When it comes to Battier, there’s definitely something extra with Bryant, who did go for 56 in three quarters against Memphis before that. They were born just 17 days apart in 1978, and Battier got to be the golden boy at Duke – he stayed for that senior season and won the national championship – in an illustrious experience Bryant obviously missed.

Bryant has had a far greater NBA career than the athletically limited Battier, yet Battier has made a mark, too. He managed to make the 2006 USA Basketball team when Bryant couldn’t play after knee surgery.

As we enter this series, Bryant just the other day renewed his vow to stay more aggressive with his individual offense, whereas Battier’s plan to shepherd Bryant into being a volume shooter as opposed to an efficient one is perhaps Houston’s only hope for winning this series.

Will Houston win it? Well, in four victories in four tries against Houston in the regular season, Bryant averaged 28.3 points on 53 percent shooting.

And even though his high-school GPA wasn’t as high as Battier’s, rest assured Bryant will be studying extra for this test, too.

Pretty good article. The writer even takes a shot at the boring jazz.
Click to expand...

if artest guards kobe. we'll lose. battier should guard kobe and artest should guard odom. odom will average a technical foul a game

#140 macmackal, May 3, 2009

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