21 in a row, and here come the big guns

The Rockets won their 21st game in a row on Friday night and I only was able to hear the 3rd quarter on the radio and the Rockets took off, then I had to mute it and the Bobcats came back. Then I got home and watched and they started dominating again. Basically I'm not allowed to miss a second of the Lakers game on Sunday. I don't have a lot to interject about the game that can't be summed up in the following: The Bobcats have a a lot of young guys that are good, but not great. They could be very good in a couple of years if they stick together. The Rockets are a much better team and road the young team wave for a bit before dominating the rest of the game. There, end of recap.

Next up, 2:30PM at Toyota Center tomorrow: The Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant minus Pau Gasol

So just to recap, the Rockets got New Orleans without David West, then Dallas without Dirk, and now LA without Gasol. You know how much sympathy I have for those teams? We have no Yao, so screw them. The Rockets have won regardless, so I just don't have any bad feelings about how other teams have showed up on the court. We're now tied for first place with the Lakers in the West, they own the tie breaker right now with a better record so far in conference. A win tomorrow would give the Rockets the season series 2-1 and they would own the first tie breaker and not need to get to the second.

Los Angeles Lakers: 44-20 (22-12 on the road) 7-3 in their last 10

Houston Rockets: 44-20 (25-9 at home) 10-0 in their last 10

The Lakers lost their last game to the New Orleans Hornets, beat the Raptors at home before that and lost to the Kings at home before that. They aren't playing as well as of late as they were right after the Gasol trade, but they are easily a top 3 team in the league right now. I'm not sure how badly the Gasol injury hurts them as much like Mike McDermott before Worm came along, they were winning before he got there. In a one or two game situation it could seriously interrupt their flow, but I'm not ready to say it will.

I actually can't wait for this game. The Lakers are a team that other tams have measured themselves against since the beginning of my basketball watching days (1986) and Sunday is no different. Kobe Bryant vs. Tracy McGrady is a huge match up. Or it would be if Tracy was actually going to guard Kobe. Instead the real match up for me is Shane Battier who has said that Kobe is the best player he's ever tried to guard. I say tried because Kobe torches everyone, even Shane hasn't found a way to slow Kobe down. I am hoping that is different this time around and the incredible team defense the Rockets have been playing of late can at least give him a small speed bump to go over. I also am hoping we can get back to a 40%+ shooting Rafer Alston and that we can control the clock a little better. In our last two games we took some really silly shots as a team overall early in the shot clock. We weren't using our offensive sets very efficiently and we need to get back to it.

What's my prediction? 22 in a row. Come on, have you seen the Rockets the last 21 games in a row???