Lakers are rattled
by Kari on May 7, 2009 10:26 PM CDT
60 comments
While many have commented that Ron should have cooled it off instead of going after Kobe, I have to respectfully disagree.
The Lakers were trying to send a message that they are tough. The fact is they are not, and were simply rattled with the 2nd quarter comeback that a bunch of lunchpail Rocket players made. This Rocket team did not wilt, did not bow to their perceived greatness. They simply played solid basketball. So, in the third quarter, Lakers simply resorted to taking cheapshots. In the past, Kobe in particular, has done such things repeatedly when things got a bit stressful for his team, and often has gotten away with it. This time, he messed with the wrong person, and Ron simply got on his face, and called his bluff. Most players don't complain, because they think it is futile, as the league would not suspend Kobe Bryant. But, Ron Artest, has enough personality, enough game, to call Kobe out. If Ron had not done that, nobody, would have even talked about the elbow to the throat, today, and Kobe would have gotten away with another intimidation.
Now Kobe Bryant's antics in the first two games are well publicised, this puts him on a short leash, and he will be less reluctant to pull such stunts. It is important to unmask the pretty faces of Kobe/Fisher and reveal the ugly side beneath. I think Ron did a very good thing early in this series, to make that happen. He sent the message that this team is not going to back down for anybody, and as Ron Ron put it, we win fair and square, and we will lose fair and square.
The Lakers got the win that they desparately needed, but the manner in which they got it, should put some serious doubt into their heads. On the other hand, for the Rockets, they now know that they can beat the Lakers, and the Rockets second unit is just as strong as their first.
All that trash Kobe kept talking to Shane Battier who guarded him smartly, and without any evidence of malice, only made me appreciate the professionalism and class of the Rockets. Yao is another wonderful example of class. I love this Rockets team! Go Rockets..
Kari
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well put.
although the lakers aren’t tough as a team, they do have tougher individuals. . . wait what am i saying?
I'll snap yo neck like a twig if you sass me again. . .
I think quite the opposite
They have that gang mentality where they act tough as a mob, but when you’re playing them one on one, with the exception of Kobe, they break easily. As a team, they still haven’t played tough hardnosed defense, instead they’re opting to go at the players rather than the ball. I love how Odom, who has been labelled soft for his entire career, only knows how to act tough by following Scola around and getting in his face.
I hate to say it, but Ron Artest is probably our weakest link in terms of mental toughness. For all the brawn and physical toughness he has, it is way to easy for Kobe to get in his head.
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I have to agree about Ron, but I am hoping that he is crazy like a fox...
and puts some fear in the Laker team before they think about pulling any stunts. This Rockets bunch has enough juice to play without McGrady, and at least to some extent can even play without Yao, but the Lakers will be toast if Kobe gets kicked out for whatever reason. They will not risk it for rest of the series. We will see!
Yea maybe the lakers can’t play without Kobe and teh Rockets can without McGrady because Kobe is 50 times the player Stacy MyLady is in both heart and skill.
Kari, the Lakers WOULD NOT, i repeat WOULD NOT get out toughed. They may not have the so called toughness to play hard nosed defense but they sure have the toughness to play hard nosed offense if they run the fastbreak and I can not remember when last the Rockets were successful against the Lakers with Pau playing the center position and outrunning Yao thus creating mis matches. Gasol can actually lead a fastbreak so we’ll see. I say the Rockets take Game 3 and the Lakers take Game 4. Quote me..
If by tough you mean...
…laying cheap elbows, losing your cool (and starting pg, oops!), and shamelessly taunting the opposing players.
There’s a huge difference between being mentally tough (Houston) and acting tough (LA wins the Oscar). A fantastic, gutty performance by the Houston Rockets, and the OP is right on the money about Artest. I’m from Boston and have been a Celtics fan my whole life. I became a Houston fan after Game 1 of this series, and I think they have completley exposed LA for the tissue-paper-soft pretenders that they are. Houston in 7, no doubt in my mind!
Loving this team, and you will see me on this forum for awhile to share this teams success with you all…
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by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 12:01 PM CDT up reply actions
Please. The fact that the Celtics aren’t doing anything this year or in the near future doesn’t call for you to jump on the Rocket bandwagon.
Shamelessly taunting opposing players by crawling on all 4s etc and winning the oscars is something Kevin Garnett knows a lot about. Garnett would never go up against a Ron Artest but a Jose Calderon is a suitable target for his “tough” act right?
You should be quiet.
I understand your hate...
But a few things, honestly:
1. I’m not primarily a Houston Rocket’s fan now, I’m still a Celtics fan first and foremost, but they way these Rockets have been playing is inspiring to me, and I am behind them to win the series. Not a bandwagoner, just a C’s fan who shows love to interesting teams around the league when they crop up. Now you are right, the C’s probably wont even make it out of the east this year, but its a silly false assumption on your part that it has anything to do with my support of an exciting Houston team playing on the other coast.
2. I’ll be the first to say that KG’s taunting Calderon was needless, classless stuff. Honestly though, he just does those things to pump himself up, and he would NEVER level a cheap elbow into someone like Kobe did. I don’t fault someone for not “stepping up up Ron Artest,” unless you have the nerve to try and throw a cheap blow at his neck, then I think maybe a little sack may be useful. Neither KG or Kobe are thugs, neither of them are mentally tough in my opinion (we have Paul Pierce for that, you have Pau Gasol lol), but KG doesn’t pull punk elbows everywhere and expect to get away with it. One in a long list of very ugly moments for Kobe that is indicative of how he plays.
3. The Oscar line was about pretending to be something your not. Like tough, as in “the Lakers are a tough team.” Shaq is not walking though those doors, man. I’ll be shocked if the Lakers make it out of this series, then out of Denver, then past the Cavs (who are looking like our era’s ‘93 Bulls). That’s just not going to happen.
4. Being quiet is for people who don’t like a healthy discussion on the issues. Where you at?
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by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 12:46 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Oh I am very much here Reggie. Always up for a great argument as long as you offer a level-headed opinion which you have done a good job at thus fat.
I would tell you what. I would be the first to tell you that if the Rockets play the way they are playing right now, neither the Celtics and especially NOT the Cavaliers would beat them in a 7 game series. The Cavs are very much like last year Lakers. They blew through the first couple of rounds untested and the finals offered a much different perspective.
Fact is Kobe is mentally and physically one of the toughest dudes in the NBA. People can hate him all they want but the man absolutely lays it all out there. This is not a Kobe vs. Pierce argument so I won’t go there but you are very much mistaken to say the least if you think Kobe is not “mentally tough”. He has done things that do not get done without toughness. Do you realize the man is still playing with 3 and a half fingers on his shooting hand and he has been doing so for more than a year? I would tell you this. Kobe is one of the few players in the NBA that would play the game as long as he can stand and walk on both feet. Not even a stress reaction in his foot would keep him out of a stage as big as the postseason. Go figure
Haha forget about the Cs this year, they wouldn’t have a shot at beating Dallas now. That’s what happens when you’re decimated by injury, I think any Cs fan will tell you that making it to the ECF and giving the Cavs a run for it would be a VERY successful season.
You are right about the Cavs, they haven’t played a real playoff game yet. Det and Atl will be a good warmup, and the winner of the Orl/Bos matchup will be as close as the East has to an answer. Still, you’re not buying these guys at all??? I mean, they look REALLY good to me, like dynasty good. Still, Lakers swept the season series, we just wont know till the Finals if they are for real.
Ok, the Kobe thing. I bow to his incredible skill, one of the few players out there who can be the best player on the court on both ends. Coupled with the fact that he played 6 games in the Finals last year, went off to win a gold metal in the offseason, and is still standing speaks to his stamina and his heart. You simply wont get a credible argument against that…
You know why he plays like that? Because he loves himself, and he loves his legacy. If only that was all it took to be a Champion, you guys would win it all every year. But Kobe is NOT a leader of men, and he can’t inspire his teammates. Plain and simple, it’s been very well documented that he treats his teammates like crap, dogs them out publicly, and loses all credibility when he tries to roll out the “Kobe’s actually a nice guy” routine every year. Sorry, he’s great but he’s not MJ. I am not buying Kobe as “the man” on a championship team, all due respect to his incredible skill…
www.greentownsfinest.com
by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 1:45 PM CDT up reply actions
I am DEFINITELY not buying the CAVS. Nope. Dynasty good is stretching it. I would tell you what. They are very much a jump shooting team and in the finals especially, you need someone you can dump it to. Ask the Spurs and Tim Duncan all those years. Even Garnett can play in the low post. You simply wouldn’t beat the CAVS without a top notch game.
I would be the first to tell you Gasol is soft but so is Big Z. He can get manhandled in the post for real. I mean he is 7’ 3 and practices more 3 point shooting than he does post moves. In a 7 game series, the 3s would stop falling after a while if you do not play inside out and NO the CAVS do not play inside out. They give it to Lebron and whatever results from the attention he receives is what they take on offense. If your team has 3 players capable of making Lebron work (like the Lakers, Rockets, last year Celtics etc) and multiple long bigs that can guard the ream, they are in trouble. The Pistons and Hawks have no idea what post play is. Shame on Rasheed Wallace for putting his talents to waste.
And I believe the Kobe that dogs his teammates publicly and treats them like crap is the 2007 kobe innit? Kobe is definitely the man on a championship if his talented bigs like Gasol and Odom can bring the same amount of heart he brings to the basketball court.
Well I agree with that completely...
“Kobe is definitely the man on a championship if his talented bigs like Gasol and Odom can bring the same amount of heart he brings to the basketball court.”
What’s the over/under on either Gasol or Odom bringing as much heart to the game as Kobe? You and I are saying the same thing, sort of, you can’t win it all on your own, you need help. Kobe needs someone who can bring the fire, sorry but I just don’t see it coming from guys who you yourself have characterized as “soft.”
www.greentownsfinest.com
by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 2:05 PM CDT up reply actions
It is my hopes that “matchup” becomes more a factor than “toughness”. I am a laker fan. I said it last year and I still say it this year. Gasol is SOFT in that he cannot and would never outhustle players like Carl Landry, Leon Powe and Paul Millsap. It just wouldn’t happen BUT he is more skilled than all 3 so he gets away with it sometimes.
The laker team is very versatile and SOME teams just CAN NOT and WOULD NOT beat them in a 7 game series. I believe the match up favors us if we get the Cavs but we have to get there first and it isn’t guaranteed. Not with the way the Rockets are playing. Put it this was.. The Nuggets have a better chance (Nene in the post) to beat the lakers than the CAVS do. We have 2 post players (Gasol and Bynum). Z would definitely be in foul trouble and neither Ben Wallace nor Varejao is doing anything on the offensive end. Smith is undersized on the defensive end. Odom is too much of a mismatch for them (watch the game where we beat them in the Quicken Loans arena)
My point is MATCHUP can be more of a factor to winning a championship than TOUGHNESS which Gasol and Odom (both finesse players) lack to an extent
Talking about crazy...
I think Ron is capable of pulling a Kermit Washington on Kobe if provoked enough. Wouldn’t want to see it, but….He’s been well behaved the last couple of years, but I’m sure there is a caged beast in Crazy Pills.
What would you do?
Chest or neck or whatever, that “V” in Artest’s Jersey is technically the chest, not the neck, but if you took an elbow there, what would you do? Try tapping it kinda hard. It doesn’t feel good. Would you retaliate, or would you bring it to the attention of the officials. I think most of us, if we are honest, would retaliate in some way. Artest did not. He immediately brought it to the attention of the officials. The officials did nothing. So maybe they didn’t see it (yeah, sure. They never do when it’s Kobe.) They have that replay that they used to take a 3 away from us after the fact. So when you go to the proper authorities and they do nothing, what else can you expect a guy to do? What would you have done? I think Artest handled it better than I would have.
by bigblueorange on May 8, 2009 3:06 PM CDT up reply actions
I don't know...
but I think Ron’s tough as nails mentally as well as physically.
Good read
Ron did the exact thing he should have and has praised from the Chuckster yesterday to Hubie Brown today.
Took it to the refs, they didn’t even listen and he went and let Kobe know he’s not gonna let him do that.
After tomorrow night
All the kobe fellaters’ prediction will change from Lakers in 5 to Lakers in 6… then to 7….
Well what if the Rockets won game 2...
cause Artest didn’t get kicked from the game? I’d rather he be on the court than play some psychological game. He needs to keep his cool cause he’s gonna be on a shorter leach than most players just because of that one incident he had years ago. The Rockets need him on the court or they don’t have a chance of winning.
That's a good point, but two things made me think otherwise (wrt game 2):
1) As bad as it sounds, I don’t think the Rockets would have been allowed to win this game. Ron was ejected in 06:57 left in the game. This is what happened in the two minutes before Ron was ejected. The Rockets were trailing by 8 points. Lakers could not blow the game open. Here was the sequence of events.
4 6:57 Hou Ron Artest ejected: Other 84 94
4 6:57 Hou Technical foul committed by Ron Artest. 84 94
4 6:57 Hou Loose Ball foul committed by Ron Artest. 84 94
4 6:57 LAL Lakers with a defensive rebound. 84 94
4 6:57 Hou Yao Ming misses a turnaround jump shot from 10 feet out. 84 94
4 7:14 LAL Luke Walton makes a jump shot from 13 feet out. Pau Gasol with the assist. 84 94
4 7:24 Hou Offensive foul committed by Kyle Lowry. 84 92
4 7:24 Hou Kyle Lowry is charged with a turnover due to a foul. 84 92
4 7:35 Hou Ron Artest with a defensive rebound. 84 92
4 7:36 LAL Kobe Bryant misses a jump shot from 22 feet out. 84 92
4 7:54 LAL Luke Walton with a defensive rebound. 84 92
4 7:56 Hou Aaron Brooks misses a driving layup shot. 84 92
4 8:14 Hou Kyle Lowry with a defensive rebound. 84 92
4 8:17 LAL Pau Gasol misses a tip shot. 84 92
4 8:17 LAL Pau Gasol with an offensive rebound. 84 92
4 8:18 LAL Jordan Farmar misses a layup shot. 84 92
Farmer misses, Pau Misses, Lowry gets the rebound, Brooks misses, Kobe misses, the game is ugly. Ron grabs the rebound at 07:35, Kyle makes the shot, the replay shows that the defender was in the restricted area, BUT, Lowry gets called for an offensive foul. It should have been a three point play, to cut the lead to 5 with six minutes to go, with the momentum swinging the Rockets way. Veteran players such as Kobe, and Artest, I am sure, also knew what was going on. Kobe was getting emboldened by that call, and Ron Ron’s, “Fair and Square” meter was lit, and a minute later he went off.
2) Lakers did not want to “just” win this game. They wanted game 2 to be a “statement” game. When it did not go their way, they made up their mind, during the half time, they are going to be “rough” on the Rockets. Ron stood up for the team by not backing down.
Yes, one can not rule out, that the rockets could have pulled this one out, but throughout the game, there were quite a few string of coincidences, that made me think that the Rockets are not going to win this one.
Are one of those coincidences the Lakers getting called for 4 personal fouls and being in foul trouble in the first 3 minutes of the 4th quarter?
As I said, the Lakers were "committed" to sending a message to Rockets in the second half,
and that attitude explains the spate of four fouls. This laker team is neither as good nor as tough as they think they are. That’s the problem.
Ron, first went to the Ref, and pleaded his case, before going to Kobe. Upon review, the NBA made Kobe’s foul a Flag-1. If Ron had not raised hell, this would not have happened today.
Consider the scenerio, had Lowry’s shot is counted, and Kobe is called for a Flag-1 at the time that he committed the foul, that’s a whole different game. I generally don’t like to point to the refs as deciding the game, but in this case, I don’t think Rockets could have won this game. You may disagree, but that’s how I see it.
Kari
Oh yeah, the refs.
I knew it, I knew it! The refs won this game for the Lakers. Darn. Poor Rockets had no chance at all. Darn darn darn.
I genuinely believe that Kobe is afraid of Ron....and I love it!!!!
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I wouldn't bet on it
Game 2 wasn’t the first time Kobe and Artest have gotten into it like that. The previous time it happened Kobe eviscerated Artest and the Rockets (in Houston, btw) with 18 4th quarter points en route to a Laker win. Kobe’s not afraid of Artest, but he is in Ron-Ron’s head.
Well said. Kobe is not in the slightest bit afraid of Ron Artest. NOT EVEN CLOSE. If he were afriad of Artest, he wouldn’t have slapped down Ron Artest’s forearm 2 times and dropped buckets after buckets on Ron, while shutting him down on the other end, the last time they played in Houston.
He knows how to make Ron Ron make it 1 on 1 mano y mano. We all know how that turned out the last time.
Well, if I may point out, the last time they played in Houston, Shane Battier guarded Kobe most of the night!
Ron has a tendency to go one on one independent of which team he plays. Trust me I have watched more Rockets game than you.
It is just a Ron ‘special’ if you have him on your team. Don’t get carried away.
Kobe is good jump shooter, and he will get his points, independent of who is guarding him. The purpose of the defense is to make him work for those points.
You thought the Lakers were rattled?
Following the Fisher foul the following things happened:
- Von Wafer was thrown out of the game by his coach.
- Ron Artest was thrown out of the game by the refs
- The Rockets turned it over 8 times in the final quarter
- The Lakers turned a close and tough-fought game into a blowout
But your analysis was that of the two teams it was the Lakers who were rattled? You might want to go back and watch those last 12 minutes again.
BTW, when Scola and Odom got into it, did you notice that not only did Luke Walton stand up to Scola as well, but then Fisher laid him out? That’s called standing with your teammates and getting their backs. How come Houston didn’t come to Scola’s aid at all, either when he and Odom were jawing at each other, or when Fisher knocked him on his ass?
Yes
because the Lakers are REALLY gonna miss Luke Walton’s 2 minutes per game if he gets thrown out for an altercation
Your logic is dizzying...
…Fisher laid a dirty hit on an opposing player, and got suspended for 1 and a half games, yet you argue this was a mentally tough act? LA is getting exposed one play at a time, they be on a very short leash in game 3, and the whole point of the OP was that Artest’s ejection served a purpose.
Seems like they stole HC away from the Lakers in game 1, and conceded game 2 towards the end in exchange for a call for fair officiating in the series. Without the refs to save him, Kobe is in ALOT of trouble here, doesn’t look good for LA to me, just one man’s opinion…
www.greentownsfinest.com
by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions
Yep
Fisher’s foul was very smart for the Lakers and proved to be just what they needed. After all, it’s hard to argue the results. Just look at how the Rockets came apart at the seams after that play.
Sure, Fisher’s suspended, but LA’s got two very capable point guards left for tonight in Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown. Farmar probably matches up better with Brooks than Fisher does anyway, since Farmar is faster than Fisher is. Keep in mind that prior to the Rafer Alston trade and the Vlad Radmanovic trade, Brooks and Fisher used to always square off against each other as the teams’ backup PGs.
So...
Fisher is so expendable that laying a ugly cheap shot and getting suspended is a good thing for the Lakers? Hmmm, I mean I know the Lakers won the game but I just can’t see the logic here.
If the Lakers win tonight without Fisher, maybe your point will be crystalized, but until that happens my revisionist story is this: Scola gets in the Lakers heads, effectively makes Fisher lose his cool, and now they are without their starting PG. If Farmar is a better matchup, they should be playing him as the starter. Having your starting PG suspended isn’t good for anyone’s team, it just makes the Lakers look like dirty punks in my eyes, and gives the Rockets confirmation that all this beating the grass is working…
www.greentownsfinest.com
by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 1:56 PM CDT up reply actions
Agreed.
And WildYams,
weren’t you the guy talking about how Houston should want to play the Lakers at the full strength?
If so, then why do you advocate Fisher taking cheap shots to try and rattle the opposition? That’s not exactly playing the Rockets at full strength as consequently Artest got tossed on an altercation that should have been no more than a technical had Fisher not been ejected.
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You should see what they are saying about us at BE
They say that we were yelling N****r at the lakers bench. Not cool. And that we’re a bunch of rednecks and blah blah blah. Don’t they realize that houston is just as diverse as NYC. Just without the stuckup douchebags
You're reaching here
I wanna see both teams at full strength. That means I don’t think Artest should have been tossed, nor do I think Fisher should have been suspended. However, I understand why the refs threw Artest out, just as I understand why they suspended Fisher, I just disagree with both choices.
There’s a great piece by JA Adande up at ESPN about how the league needs to get more realistic about the way they dole out these punishments, and they need to save the suspensions and ejections for actual fights rather than just tough play or tough talk, and I agree. The playoffs are supposed to be rough. There shouldn’t be free layups and there should be message-sending fouls, “playoff fouls”.
That said, while you’re right that Fisher’s foul did lead to the refs overreacting to Artest (Artest’s own past played a part as well), you’re really reaching to blame Fisher for Artest’s ejection. Fisher was in the locker room when it happened, after all. If Ron had kept his head, he would have finished the game; but he didn’t so he got tossed. Blame the NBA for it’s chronic overreactions to incidents like these.
Yes, indeed..
Your statements make my point.
Kobe elbows Ron Artest; Fisher elbows Scola; Odom bitches to Scola; and Luke, strings along with every stunt that Lakers were trying to bull. Is this the sign of a championship caliber, supremely talented, team that was supposed to cruise to the finals to “avenge” the punking that the Celtics handed to them last year?
You know what toughness is? When Battier was bleeding, he just got up, got it stitched, got back in the game, and just played. When Kobe was kicking him in the face when trying to get up, he just got up and played. When Kobe was taunting him a kindergardener, he just played his game. What happened after Scola was elbowed? He got up and played. Rockets are playing with two very young guards, Brooks, and Lowry, and they are turnover prone. But, this team is composed of solid, professional, basketball players, who play smart and tough.
So, yes, the Lakers were rattled..
Kari
PS: I can only imagine the bitchfest the Lakers would have thrown, had Kobe was bleeding like Battier. They would have built a
I'm just trying to understand your logic here
Following the Fisher foul one team played well and the other team did not, and your conclusion is that the team that played well is the one that was rattled?
You need to go back and watch that 4th quarter again, and pay special attention to who the Rockets have on the floor (Yao, for the whole period) and who the Lakers do not have on the floor (starers Lamar Odom & Trevor Ariza). Also note that the Lakers were in the penalty for almost the whole period, yet they still turned the game into a blowout.
But hey, I guess you can take solace in knowing that the cool head and evened reasoning of the Rockets’ leader, Ron Artest, will help carry Houston to victory. Right?
Houston better show better composure and heart tonight than they did in the 4th quarter on Wednesday, or they’re going to be down 2-1 in a hurry.
When Fisher was ejected, Lakers lead by 11 points, score 75-86
In the final score, Lakers lead by 13 points, not exactly a team playing well. They were able to hold on to their lead – with the help of a good dose of bad officiating. Have your facts straight!
You can be a Laker fan, and be based on reality.
Following Scola's FTs
The score was 77-86, just what it was at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Lakers were up by 15 before they took Kobe out (and Houston took Yao out), knowing the game was over. Landry’s dunk with 8 seconds left in a blowout doesn’t suddenly make your case. Sorry.
You are entitled to your opinion, but what you cite to support your opinion does not stand scruitiny
Your claim that the rockets were rattled was based on this statement, and I quote,…
“Following the Fisher foul one team played well and the other team did not, and your conclusion is that the team that played well is the one that was rattled?”
My point was when Fisher was ejected the Lakers lead by 11 points 75-86, i.e., the rockets were not playing well even before Fisher’s ejection.
The second thing that you state is:
“You need to go back and watch that 4th quarter again, and pay special attention to who the Rockets have on the floor (Yao, for the whole period) and who the Lakers do not have on the floor (starers Lamar Odom & Trevor Ariza). Also note that the Lakers were in the penalty for almost the whole period, yet they still turned the game into a blowout.”
My friend, Kobe left 44s before the quarter was over and Pau was there the entire 4 quarter. A team with Kobe/Pau on the floor is not exactly lacking in talent. To give you an objective number, the combined salary of Kobe/Pau/Luke/Farmar/Sasha is over 51 Million dollars. The combined salary of Yao/Shane/Lowry/Landry/Scola is 31 Million dollars.
By the way, Landry’s dunk 8 seconds before simply offset the shot Luke Walton(?) made about 10 seconds earlier.
So, the evidence that you cite stating that the Lakers turned a 11 point lead at the time of Fisher’s departure into a 13 point “BLOW-OUT” with a weak “Laker team” is laughable.
Well, you are entitled to your views, but don’t try to offer objective evidence.
Kari
My logic is this...
…forget about result sin the 4th quarter, this Houston team is here to stay and it’s clear. No longer a Cinderella story, they are an incredibly troublesome matchup for a team that struggles with toughness and relies too heavily on a high volume scorer who doesn’t inspire his team.
Add to that Houston stole HC in game one, and sent as strong a message as you could in a loss in game 2. If the Lakers don’t take notice, it’s going to be a long summer of fishing for LA.
www.greentownsfinest.com
by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 1:26 PM CDT up reply actions
BTW...
Artest handled the postgame interview brilliantly, and so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt on this one. But your point is well taken, he can be his own worst enemy, and none of this matters if they don’t come out and play inspired basketball tonight…
www.greentownsfinest.com
by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions
We'll see tonight
Houston sure looked shook up in that 4th quarter on Wednesday though. No composure and no effort. Maybe they’ll have regrouped since then. We’ll soon see if they have.
Just to reiterate...
…the OP was about the ejections in the 4th quarter serving a purpose. Without that ejection, no one even notices that disgraceful elbow by Kobe. He wont be getting away with that one anymore this series, which will make it very very tough for him.
You see it as a collapse, I see it as the underdogs standing up and saying “Hey, I know you think your gonna walk all over us, but we are here to win this series and we are not afraid…”
I’m a Celtics fan. Last year in the first round we were vastly superior to the young, inexperienced, streaky Hawks team, and we walked into the building like we had already won. Suddenly Zaza Pachulia got up in KGs face, and boom, it’s a series all of a sudden. I and every Cs fan went “Uh oh, the Hawks don’t care about our star power, or our regular season record, they are here to play.” They gave us all we could handle in that series…
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by Reggies Ghost on May 8, 2009 2:45 PM CDT up reply actions
Yeah that because Luke was being a biatch
there was no reason for him to say anything to Scola and thats what started all the confrontations. Luke and lamar lost their cool before anyone else. lamar was talking shit to scola the whole game and scola just ignored him. Luke felt bad the lamar was being ignored so he tried to rattle Luis and it still didnt really work. Then fisher was still pissed at scola so fisher took himself out of game 2 and 3. Thats a lack of composure and smarts.
Game 1 100-92 Rockets
Game 2 111-98 lakers
Series Tied 1-1
So was that a lack of composure and smarts when Ron Ron lost his mind and got tossed jut like every Laker fan knew he would?
How bad is it when one player is not only infintely more talented than another, but he’s also infinitely more intelligent than the other player too? Talk about embarrassing. One player is telling stories in interviews about how tough he is and how rough he had it growing up and the other is laughing about how far in his head he is?
Take Kobe and Lamar Odom out of the game and see how well the Lakers play.
With Yao the only consistent scoreer left in the game, the Rockets were hoping for a miracle. Still made it interesting though, getting it down to 7 in the 4th quarter.
Rockets; such nice clean boys.
Come on, it’s the playoffs! Go back to your DVR and watch all the plays. Elbows fly from both sides. Amazing.
Don’t sweat it, jbrando. Just in the little bit of time since I joined this Rockets site so I can get the “other side’s opinion”, i’ve found them to be just as delusional and convinced of “conspiracies” against their team as anyone.
What is the famous quote? “Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.”
It’s interesting too that the Lakers have the “dirtiest” and “most hated” player in the league on their squad and yet the Rockets have a player on their squad that is either kissing the ass of that player in interviews or is so easily duped that he can allow that player to get into his head and get him thrown out of a playoff game by that player.
Shouldn’t you have to have done something in the past 14 or 15 years in this league to even think you’re relevant enough that the league has it in for you?
Puh-leeze.
Well, I never said that Rockets are nice clean boys, they just play solid basketball.
You seem to think that Reffing was just fine in that game. So, here is what the refs saw:
Lakers had three people receiving technicals,
Kobe,
Odom,
Walton,
Flagrant 1 for Kobe,
Flagrant 2 for Fisher
in the second game of a 7 game playoff series against a fifth seeded team.
Rockets had two technicals: Luis Scola and Artest.
Care to point out some elbows thrown by Shane on Kobe, or Yao on Pau or Artest on Odom? I will check my DVR..
I agree ...
completely with your post Kari. It is very sad watching a team that I believe actually has some talent resort to this type of behavior. It should just be a well played series like the the one against the Blazers. But, this is the Lakers after all, and they are who they are. That being said, I really hate the Lakers. GO Rockets in 2009!!!
Blazers played a tough series with the Rockets, and there was none of this nonsense
Good solid basketball. I think the Blazers are a fun team to watch, and in fact, Roy scored more points in the paint against the Rockets, than Kobe has in this series – so far.
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