Rockets outmuscle Lakers 100-92 in series opener

By BERNIE WILSON, AP Sports Writer May 5, 2:48 am EDT

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LOS ANGELES (AP)—Kobe Bryant drove on Yao Ming in the key, the two collided knee-to-knee and the big Houston Rockets center fell to the court, grabbing his right knee and grimacing in pain.

It sure didn’t look good when Yao limped off the court and disappeared into the tunnel.

A few minutes later he was back, waiting at the scorer’s table to return to the physical game. Although the Rockets absorbed some hits and shed the most blood, they outmuscled the Los Angeles Lakers 100-92 in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals on Monday night.

Yao had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Ron Artest added 21 points and Aaron Brooks had 19 for the Rockets, who are in the second round for the first time since 1997.

Yao downplayed the injury and quick recovery, but his team didn’t.

“I don’t know what our trainer did to Yao,” coach Rick Adelman said. “It was like Rocky coming back out there. We really needed him on the court.”

Artest said he was proud of Yao.

“He didn’t even make it to the training room,” Artest said. “Time was of essence. Every second, it was killing him not to be on the bench or on the floor. He came right out. I was so proud of him. He showed so much courage and knew that we needed him.”

After Bryant and Yao collided, Los Angeles’ Pau Gasol picked up the ball for a slam dunk that pulled the Lakers to 85-79 with 4:54 left.

Yao had eight points after coming back; a jumper and six free throws. He made all 10 of his free throws.

Yao said he got hit pretty hard and just needed to walk it off.

“My knee feels fine, thanks for asking,” he said. “There’s no need to worry about it. I just need to put ice on it.

“Tonight I think my team had a great night,” Yao added. “Everybody came out with a very active attitude. I think Ron Artest and Shane Battier did a great job guarding Kobe. Everybody played very unselfish.”

Bryant, who finished a distant second to LeBron James in NBA MVP voting announced earlier Monday, scored 32 points, doing his best to keep the Lakers in the game despite missing practice on Sunday with a sore throat. He scored 22 of the Lakers’ final 42 points.

“I’m fine,” Bryant said. “My energy felt fine, I was OK.

“We just blew some defensive assignments at key moments,” Bryant added.

Yao was too much for the Lakers and the Rockets were much livelier on offense as they wrested away home-court advantage from the top-seeded Lakers.

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

“I think we were hungry to win the first game, like we had in the first game of the last (series),” Yao said, referring to the six-game win over Portland. “We know we have to respect them. They will come back strong in Game 2.”

The Lakers fell behind in the first quarter and never got into a rhythm.

“I didn’t like the start of the game at all,” coach Phil Jackson said. “I didn’t like our poise, our control, the way we tried to execute our offense or not execute our offense, little things that we have to do better.”

Jackson said he’s confident the Lakers will bounce back.

“I don’t know if we could play much worse, quite honestly,” he said.

Bryant agreed.

“We played really bad, shot the ball horrendously from the 3-point line,” Bryant said. “A lot of that was desperation at the end, but still, we missed a lot. We shot horribly from the free throw line.”

The Lakers made only 12 of 19 free throws.

Battier needed four stitches to close a gash over his left eye in the closing seconds of the first quarter. Battier had blood streaming down his face after getting hit when Los Angeles’ Sasha Vujacic swatted a loose ball out to Bryant. The force of the impact knocked Battier to the ground.

Workers spent a few minutes wiping blood off the court.

Battier returned late in the second quarter.

Earlier in the quarter, the Lakers’ Pau Gasol had trainers work on a cut over his left eye, and Gasol returned to the game, finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

The Lakers trailed 59-50 with just less than 6 minutes left in the third quarter after Artest hit a 3-pointer. Bryant scored 11 of the Lakers’ last 14 points in the quarter, which ended with the Rockets ahead 70-67.

Bryant made three jumpers in just over than 2 minutes, helping keep the Lakers close as both Yao and Brooks drove the baseline for dunks.

Notes

Andrew Bynum of the Lakers started but drew two fouls in the first 3 minutes and was replaced by Lamar Odom. … The Lakers were 4-0 against the Rockets during the regular season.

Updated May 5, 2:48 am EDT
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495 Comments

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  1. John Rey
    495. Posted by John Rey Fri May 15 1:57am EDT

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    dfsfsdfd
  2. raptor22
    494. Posted by raptor22 Fri May 15 12:39am EDT

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    i am a lakers fan,but still walton and odom sucks ....
  3. Carolyn
    493. Posted by Carolyn Fri May 8 11:27am EDT

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    lakers rock houston sucks
  4. ZZ
    492. Posted by ZZ Wed May 6 9:10pm EDT

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    jose - i have no idea what you just said.
  5. villifeye
    491. Posted by villifeye Wed May 6 8:10pm EDT

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    sasha "disguised" his attack on Battier much better than Rondo did against Miller. it looked like a follow thru on an attempted block. i'm a Laker fan all the way but that was intentional . oh well. i doubt sasha was trying to split his face like that tho. i thought honestly that that play was bad omen for Lakers concerning game one. Gave houston more fuel and distracted Lakers from basic fundamental ball.
  6. Jose
    490. Posted by Jose Wed May 6 7:15pm EDT

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    yall @#$% kno, lakers gon win fosho in six no less no mo' Kob is on like donkey kong u kno this so don't ignore this is on nd we've already won cus houston was done wen the brackets was done nd it said they would play the lakers with the real chosen one, Kobe, Lebron's the choking one so yall @#$% kno. Lakers in 6 need i say more.
  7. Thomas D
    489. Posted by Thomas D Wed May 6 9:32am EDT

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    How does it feel to have home court advantage taken away, LA?
  8. Bert
    488. Posted by Bert Wed May 6 2:48am EDT

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    I am a huge lakers fan...have been for quite sometime. i also happen to think that kobe is the best basketball player in the world right now. that is why it pains me to say this ...i do not think the lakers will win the championship this year!!!

    and it is not because of lebron and the cavs, nor pierce and the celtics. neither is it the fault of the ultra-talented lakers players - - -the culprit is poor coaching! come on, we lakers fans have all seen this before...shaq and kobe plus a strong supporting cast beaten by detroit. last years humiliating defeat at the hands of the celtics, and now losing to the rockets in game 1.

    it is the same old scenario...failing to make adjustments to counter the tactics and strengths of the opposing team. that is why the lakers blow huge leads and go into defensive lapses...because no adjustments are being made by their coach who continues to rely and depend on his players' talents and individual skills to tide the team through.

    a younger coach with new and dynamic ideas is what the lakers need. there is no substitute for talent and athleticism but these have to harnessed and channeled properly by a brilliant mind who can create new plays and bring forth new strategies so his team does not fall time and again into making the same stupid mistakes that have hounded them these past years.

    all you lakers faithfuls...let's clamor and demand for a sorely needed change in the organization. keep the starting 5, keep the bench, keep the assistants...but give them a leader who can bring in a new dynamism and youthful energy that will take this fantastic lakers team to the top of the totem pole where they rightfully belong!
  9. david s
    487. Posted by david s Wed May 6 12:56am EDT

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    its i didnt post on may 4th go to bed go back to school go to hell you moron i didnt posted on may 4thgood come back whats wrong with your pc it must be the problem i would check it out.then we can talk sports your key board is not working right please tellme that its the problem no one can be that stupid and please dont threaten me because im afraid ???? im an idiot like well you know spell you later
  10. sc
    486. Posted by sc Wed May 6 12:33am EDT

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    I bet the same Rockets fans said the same thing in the reg season 4-0? Oh come 26-14 in favor of the Rockets?
  11. sc
    485. Posted by sc Wed May 6 12:31am EDT

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    Well tell all the other team that stop complain that the Lakers cheater everytime they win can you do that?
  12. sc
    484. Posted by sc Wed May 6 12:30am EDT

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    I didn't even posted May 4
  13. david s
    483. Posted by david s Wed May 6 12:24am EDT

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    did you do some research on them !to and you brought it up go back and read past blogs you!!!!wrote may 4th ooohh iforgot that was a long time ago what @#$% head you are what a phoney how do you want to bet looser get the facts before you open that un educated mouth of an @#$%
  14. david s
    482. Posted by david s Wed May 6 12:08am EDT

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    cgi i want to ax you question are you that stupid! you like that its ask jerk off!!!!!!
  15. sc
    481. Posted by sc Wed May 6 12:08am EDT

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    That's was a long time ago when everything actually happen but anyway why are we talking about this in the first place? How come no one ever talk about Malone and even Stevenson and I bet they did the same thing to?
  16. sc
    480. Posted by sc Wed May 6 12:04am EDT

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    Well I must had missed it you called me an idiot but didn't think you would had done that..
  17. sc
    479. Posted by sc Tue May 5 11:51pm EDT

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    I remember all season almost every fans was calling the Lakers soft and when they do played physical people are still calling them dirty but I agree they have to called something on that play.
  18. Mike
    478. Posted by Mike Tue May 5 11:41pm EDT

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    don't get me wrong, i'm not sayin it should have necessarily been a technical but at least a regular foul. in the rondo situation at least he did get called for a foul just not a technical. i'm all for physical play but not to the point where guys ave to get stiches.
  19. david s
    477. Posted by david s Tue May 5 11:37pm EDT

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    mike its the nba$ like wrestling its fixed only the celtics beat the reffs and the teams they were playing last year so the reffs got exposed so goes the nba what a farce !the reffs should be fined just like the players but god forbid the nba admits to mistakes
  20. sc
    476. Posted by sc Tue May 5 11:34pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    I did try to check out her this girl background. She try to commit suicide a year before all these rape case even started and after she did get pay for it she try to commit suicide again so it's really hard to believe if it happen or not.
  21. sc
    475. Posted by sc Tue May 5 11:30pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    I did try to check out her this girl background. She try to commit suicide a year before all these rape case even started and after she did get pay for it she try to commit suicide again so it's really hard to believe if it happen or not.
  22. sc
    474. Posted by sc Tue May 5 11:22pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    I know it really doesn't matter and how can you not called a flagrant foul on that? If Rondo didn't get called or suspension they won't called it. We all know Stern going to do everything in his power to make a Cavs/Lakers final but it might not happen. I don't know what the problem is.
  23. Mike
    473. Posted by Mike Tue May 5 11:15pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    it doesn't matter what the announcer said. the refs were right there and in position to she sasha's arm come down with enough force to cause a good size gash above battier's eye. i don't know how it could have been more clear cut.
  24. <i>cavslandrocks</i>
    472. Posted by cavslandrocks Tue May 5 11:12pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    Hey...Kobe nut huggers...Game 1 stats ..Kobe 32-8-4 in 44 min....LBJ 34-10-3 in 34 min The man sat out MORE THAN A FULL QUARTER AND STILL OUT PERFORMED YOUR BOY..NOW do you see why LBJ is the MVP??..No sore throat excuses...FAKER Lakers are going down
  25. sc
    471. Posted by sc Tue May 5 11:09pm EDT

    Report Abuse

    ZZ how about rereading my post maybe you need that book idiot.
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Top Performers

 Top Performers
 Houston
Y. Ming Yao Ming
9-17,  28 Pts
10 Rebs, 0 Assists
 LA Lakers
K. Bryant Kobe Bryant
14-31,  32 Pts
8 Rebs, 4 Assists

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