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Rockets hold off Lakers, Kobe in overtime thriller
Houston 107, L.A. Lakers 104
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107 |
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104 |
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Yao Ming, Rockets center The Rockets big man scored a season-high 39 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. |
He Said It |
I was shocked that they called it, but he definitely could have gotten arrested for jay-walking.
The Good Yao Ming was dominating. He had little trouble getting his jumper or hook shot over Kwame Brown. He finished with a season-high 39 points. |
The Not So Good The Rockets can't be blamed for Kobe Bryant's hot night, but they did make mistakes down the stretch that allowed the Lakers to erase a 12-point lead. Houston has to trim their turnovers in crunch time. |
Up Next:  |
Utah at Houston, Sunday, 5 p.m. |
Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES – Jeff Van Gundy walked into the Rockets' huddle and offered his team a piece of advice after a chaotic finish at the end of regulation.
He essentially told his team to forget about the show that Kobe Bryant was putting on in Hollywood.
"Coach said in the huddle, 'Forget about it,'" Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "We can't think backwards. We got to think forwards. And that's what we did."
Did they ever.
Despite watching Bryant transform Staples Center into his personal playground in the fourth quarter, the Rockets didn't panic and eventually escaped the shooting star's latest 50-point performance with a thrilling 107-104 overtime victory Friday night over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant was unstoppable as he poured in a game-high 53 points against Houston's helpless defense, but the Rockets survived the heroics of the NBA's leading scorer with a 7-0 run to close overtime.
The Rockets capped off the win by trapping Bryant at midcourt and forcing the Lakers star to travel with just 16.1 ticks left on the clock. Alston hit two free throws at the other end to push Houston's advantage to three before Bryant misssed an off-balance three-pointer shortly before the buzzer.
Not a bad response for a team that looked like they were in trouble once Bryant got hot.
"You've got to have mental toughness," Rockets forward Juwan Howard said. "It was good that we were able to keep our poise and we didn't get rattled. We found a way to dig it out. That's how it's going to be sometimes in the playoffs."
Bryant took over the game with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in regulation as he erased Houston's 88-76 advantage in a flash.
With Shane Battier and Tracy McGrady taking turns trying to slow him down, Bryant scored 17 points in a four-minute outburst. He got the biggest of those buckets under the most unlikely of circumstances.
The Rockets were clinging to a 95-92 lead with 16.1 seconds remaing and caught a break when Kwame Brown, the Lakers' worst free throw shooter, caught an inbounds pass. Yao Ming immediately fouled the center to send him to the line.
Brown missed both free throws, but Bryant somehow managed to snatch the offensive rebound and bury a dramatic, off-balance three-pointer with 11.8 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
"I was fine with our defense on Bryant," Van Gundy. "He's a great player. He took a ton of shots. There's only so much you can do."
The Rockets, though, didn't panic.
Despite watching the Lakers bolt to a 104-100 advantage with 1:03 left in overtime, the Rockets clawed back.
McGrady sank three free throws after drawing a foul on a three-point attempt and the Rockets then got a huge offensive rebound from Howard. The Rockets forward grabbed a McGrady miss and then dished off a pass to Yao under the bucket for a 105-104 lead.
"I was going to go up for a jump hook and I saw Yao," Howard said. "He's so tall, you can't miss him. I was able to throw the little soft lob to him."
The Lakers had a chance to respond, but Bryant traveled on the ensuing possession after being trapped by Battier and Yao. He emphatically argued the call to no avail.
"I was shocked that they called it, but he definitely could have gotten arrested for jay-walking," Alston said.
Yao led the Rockets with a season-high 39 points and 11 rebounds, while McGrady added 30 points. The Rockets picked up their seventh win in eight games and moved within a 1/2-game of the Utah Jazz for the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference.
They'll be facing Utah Sunday at Toyota Center -- and will have plenty of momentum heading into that showdown after surviving Kobe's show.
"When it looked like we were done, we responded," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "To become a great team in this league and to make the next step, you have to win games like this. You have to forge your team with adversity. There was a lot of adversity in overtime. Kobe was going and the crowd was into it. We kept fighting."
