It’s tough to write up this one. The Rockets had every chance in the world to pull off a big upset given both Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest didn’t play to rest their injuries.

Yao Ming battles Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom for a rebound.
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But two of Houston’s veterans couldn’t come up big in the clutch while the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant did.

After Shane Battier hit a huge three-pointer to give the Rockets a 100-99 lead with 47.9 seconds remaining, Kobe hit a cold-blooded three-pointer over Shane that was a dagger. Lakers 102-100.

Rafer Alston was fouled on the following play, but he missed both free throws. A veteran point guard needs to make those. The Rockets fouled Pau Gasol intentionally, who missed 1-of-2 free throws, to give Houston a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer.

But the Rockets’ offense broke down. Aaron Brooks fed the ball to Yao in the post. The ball was tipped away from Yao, who gathered it and put up a 2-pointer with just a few seconds on the clock. Oops. Not good.

Later Yao would say he thought there was enough time for the Rockets to score, foul the Lakers intentionally, and send them to the line. But there was no way that was going to happen. I think it was just one of those cases where it’s hard for a player to maintain a good sense for how much time is on the clock when going after a loose ball. I think your instinct tells you to put up a shot as quickly as possible after securing the ball like that.

I never really come down hard on players who react that way in that situation. It’s too helter-skelter to really comprehend how much time is left, and at least they are willing to take the shot.

Instead, I put the blame on the type of call that is made in the huddle preceding the play. I think a better play could have been designed to find an open 3-point shooter. Like maybe using Brooks’ speed for him to take it to the cup really fast. If he’s got an open layup, let him score it and there’s still plenty of time to intentionally foul and get the ball back. If the shot is heavily contested, then he kicks it out to an open shooter behind the 3-point line.

There was none of that. It was just inbound the ball, dribble behind the 3-point line, and hope for a shot to open up. Not much imagination there and very easy to defend.

Still, the Rockets played a great game to even be in a position short-handed to pull off an upset of the league’s best team. Von Wafer continues to show he has the makings to be a major star – incredible given his journeyman history before this season – after continuing his torrid scoring for a reserve who was virtually unknown a couple of weeks ago.

Wafer finished with a career-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-4 from behind the three-point line, and surprisingly was outplaying Kobe after 3 quarters, who ‘only’ had 20 points on 8-of-23 shooting and was 0-for-3 from behind the arc. Wafer even jetted past Kobe on a breakaway in the second quarter to throw it down on him, which raised the roof at Toyota Center. I’ve been amazed at just how fast Wafer is. That is a rare talent I’m not accustomed to seeing with Rocket players, other than Brooks.

But Kobe lit it up in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points on 5-of-9 shots, including four baskets in the final 6 minutes.

Yao Ming had been dominating in the third quarter with 11 points and 6 boards, but with 2:53 remaining he picked up his fourth foul, sending him to the bench. Yao was so frustrated with the call, he ended up kicking (lightly) an advertising sign next to the Rockets’ bench, and the refs called an immediate technical on him.

Yao would later say, “I wanted to keep going. You don’t want to stop at that time. That foul put me on the bench, and it really made me mad. That’s all I can really say.”

He would come back into the game in the fourth quarter, but didn’t do that much damage. His momentum had been disrupted after that fourth foul, and he didn’t score the rest of the game, but he still finished with a respectable 19 points (9-of-18 shooting), 17 boards, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and only 2 turnovers.

Carl Landry picked up the slack impressively, being active around the rack, scoring 9 in the fourth quarter, and finishing with 21 points on 8-of-12 shots and grabbing 8 rebounds.

It looked good for the Rockets to pull this one off since they shot a season-high 62.5% in the first half against the vaunted Lakers, and they were still shooting 59% after 3 quarters to lead 82-78. The Rockets have an incredible 20-3 record this season when leading after 3 quarters, but with Kobe playing in this game, you can throw that stat out the window because it hardly means anything.

As much as I hate the Rockets losing a game that was so winnable, I’m excited to watch how their ‘young guns’ will do in their upcoming games. Although Artest will be out of action for 7-10 days after he was diagnosed with a bone bruise, and that sucks because I love watching him, following new guys like Wafer, Brooks (2-for-10 with 4 points Tuesday night) and Landry evolve is a ton of fun.

On the veteran front, it seems Brent Barry is getting back into shape. He hit 4-of-5 shots in scoring 9 points. Even Dikembe Mutombo got his first action of the season, entering the game with 8:01 remaining in the second quarter. He had two baskets and an offensive rebound in just 4 minutes of play.

Then once Artest and McGrady are healthy, the Rockets should be a force down the stretch of the regular season, and hopefully hitting on all cylinders to wreak some havoc in the playoffs, no matter how they’re seeded. No one will want to play them if that happens.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 9:29 am and is filed under vs. LA Lakers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.