Comments on: Preview & Chat: The Houston Rockets

By: Hart

Hart — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:16:37 +0000

Loved Ariza’s energy and general basketball savvy. The LATimes had a decent article on Ariza, with a great anecdote about Ariza trying to slip out of the arena but getting held back by PR Rep Black who said, and I paraphrase, there’s no way he can just leave quietly after playing that well. Of any of the Lakers players–yes, even Pau–Ariza was the reason for last night’s turnaround (if not the subsequent blowout). Just as team’s are fully geared for Kobe’s deadly iso game, Phil can sub Ariza in and provide the offense with a completely different look. I love it.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:16:19 +0000

New post up.

68. A little of both right now. But that doesn’t discount how good the Lakers looked again.

By: Hart

Hart — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:13:44 +0000

That Kobe guy is pretty good

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:07:34 +0000

Did not watch the game, but from the box score the lakers looked impressive (paticularly Farmar, Ariza, Pau, and that Kobe guy). Were the Lakers really that dominant? The rockets play bad? Or was a combination of both.

By: khandor

khandor — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:57:03 +0000

Please recall …

70+ Wins and the 2008-2009 NBA Championship was the forecast for this Lakers’ team PRIOR to their loss in the NBA Finals last season.

Offense, Defense & Rebounding … balanced and in harmony.

5 down … and counting.

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:11:45 +0000

Every year the Rockets are supposed to be ‘scary in the playoffs’. I’ll believe it when I see it. Their defense should be back to its suffocating best once Battier is back, but I still see issues in that team which will hurt them in the playoffs. They rely too much on T-Mac as a creator, Yao plays soft and allows himself to be bullied a lot of the time, Artest routinely overestimates his offensive abilities, and the bench is unreliable. Until at least a couple of these things changes – and I haven’t even mentioned the health of Yao and T-Mac and the volatility of Artest – I’m hesitant to label them a title contender.

Beyond all of that, I don’t see them as a team that matches up particularly well with the Lakers. They have NOBODY who can guard Gasol or Odom, and once the second unit starts pushing the tempo they don’t have the personnel to respond in kind (or impose their own pace on the game).

The scary thing about this Lakers team is that their strength is supposed to be scoring, and they haven’t even played their best at the offensive end so far. Between the careless turnovers and the missed free-throws, there is still room for improvement – and they are still leading the league in points average by a good margin. Depth + defense = dominance so far, but we’ll see what happens against NO (they look great as well) and Detroit later this week.

By: Renato Afonso

Renato Afonso — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:22:35 +0000

Hi guys…

I’m wondering if the Rockets aren’t just in a slump right now… I don’t like the idea of facing them in the playoffs…

By: lakerade

lakerade — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:36:35 +0000

My fave cousin, 6 months preggers, from Italy got my seats to this game, hope baby heard some Laker love.

I myself missed the game, love the result! In Tahoe to board some, but MY Lakes beat whatever they have up here, hahaha.

Read this in LA Times, about Buss’ commitment… seems like a big motivator for LO, not that he needed it, but Buss paints a picture of keepin em all together… pure.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-buss10-2008nov10,0,5322362.story

By: chibi

chibi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:34:02 +0000

Farmar was Starmar tonight.

By: barry g

barry g — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:45:45 +0000

aaron brooks is ridiculous!! that kid’s got some game…