went to the game so heres my obligatory recap: 1st quarter: Game started out very smoothly, you could tell all the lakers were extremely frustrated especially shaq. I was surprised early on at how little the lakers gave the ball to shaq, slava was just shooting and shooting from outside. Yao started off hot and Shaq really couldnt stop him especially on the pick and roll. There was one instance when Shaq made a nice move on Yao and then dunked it right in his grill. You could just see a fire in Yao's eyes lighting up and you knew he wanted to dunk it right back, but he made a nice little Shanghai shake and drained a 10 footer. Yao was very active on the offensive boards. On a couple of his boards he came sprinting in from the three point line to snatch it. On the defensive boards, however, Yao was horrible. He kept trying to tip it away from shaq instead of just grabbing it and always always always either slava kobe devean or gary got the board and scored. Staples was booing the Lakers after the first quarter, really funny. 2nd quarter: Steve started shooting really badly in the 2nd and I was impressed by the fact that he didnt keep launching up shot after shot...he got the offesne integrated, and jackson started to go off. In the second there were two plays run: pick and roll to yao for a jumper and jim jackson on the wing to yao into the post. The latter got jackson at least 8 points. Jackson would throw into Yao, make a back cut, Yao with his height easily got him the ball and Jackson had a wide open 12 footer. Beautiful. Cato tried a turn around jumper that missed horribly and I was impressed with him the rest of the game in that he never took another shot he couldnt make. All dunks. At the buzzer Steve made a sweet dunk and all of Staples had a collective OOOOH 3rd quarter: This is when it all came off. Yao went back to his turnover prone non assertive self, Steve wasnt passing at all Jackson wasnt hitting them and Cuttino seemed invisible. Oh and Kobe went red hot and Pike missed a WIDE OPEN fastbreak layup...embarassing...the lakers came storming back and eventually took the lead. It was at this time that I was most impressed with Francis. He didnt run around like a chicken without his head, he kept calm, stayed within Van Gundy's system and by the end of the quarter got the Rockets a 4 point lead. Francis was also talking the whole game, especially to Yao. "Get the ball Yao! Go for the ball! Ask for it ask for it! you gotta mismatch!" all game, very interesting. 4th quarter: The Lakers basically gave up after the Rockets got the lead to ten. Kobe went back to his ball hogging brick shooting ways and Shaq seemed non existant with Kelvin guarding him. The boos came back and everyone left with around 2 minutes left. Francis his a couple of VERY clutch jumpers and Mobes hit one in the corner that iced it. Moochie also drained a nice three. You could see that Steve was determined. He hadn't had a great shooting game so far and he came out in the fourth shooting and draining. Yao basically didn't play the entire fourth quarter because of foul trouble and I hate to say it, but the Rockets played better without him. They looked much more comfortable. But in the first, you could say the lead we got was all because of Yao, so I dont think Yao is a problem. Random: There was a big show for Jerry West who was in the crowd, he got a standing O. Jack wasnt there (at least I dont think so I looked all around)...Magic was there as well as lots of other celebrities and Kobe's wife was there with the baby. Van Gundy was very chilled and very calm. In the third quarter when everything was collapsing, Steve always looked over at Van Gundy to see what he was yelling or if hed ever call a timeout...Gundy never yelled just waved his hand and told Steve to play. This helped the Rockets confidence a TON and it showed in the 4th quarter. Overal a fun, but sometimes ugly game, huge win for the Rockets.
Thanks for the recap. I personally can't stand how smug the Lakers are and its glad to hear that the Boo Birds were out there. OTOH I lived in CA for awhile and LA fans are some of the most spoiled and lazy fans. They show up late and leave early.
great recap! were you acting like a crazy rockets fan cheering and screaming? do you happen to have any pictures of the game?
was acting crazy actually a couple rows in front of me there were some Rockets fans wearing the old red and gold and we got quite a few laker fans riled up...
awesomeeeeeee! wish i was there! it would have been so fun to make them even more pissed off because you know, the lakers are the greatest!
The rox didn't play better without Yao in the 4th. Maybe you all missed the Lakers going 6 mins without a field goal? They were missing point blank shots and open jumpers. That my friend is called luck, not playing better.
please no yao only crap.. it was my opinion that the Rockets looked more comfortable offensively (which has nothing to do with the Lakers missing shots) without Yao in this quarter...I am not saying the Rockets play worse overal, just in this quarter. that is all
Every shot was contested in the 4th. I saw it. Ask Doc Rivers, he commented on it several times. Don't take it personal or nothin. Sorry you find it disappointing that the Rockets earn a quality win against a contender on their home floor. Maybe you missed that this is a Rockets fan forum?
