PrintLakers Grind Out Win Over Rockets
Poor shooting dooms Houston to 88-79 defeat at hands of defending champs
Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Los Angeles - In some ways it seemed almost inexplicable. Despite all the missed shots, turnovers, sluggish play and squandered opportunities, the Rockets found themselves, once again, giving the defending champs all they could handle.
But just as the Lakers found it nearly impossible to bury the resilient Rockets, Houston similarly struggled to get over the hump against Los Angeles, ultimately coming undone and suffering through an 88-79 defeat due largely in part to a season-worst showing at the offensive end of the floor.
It was the type of performance capable of tempting the casual observer into believing that there was solace to be found in extending the Lakers – on the road, no less – without the benefit of anything even approximating Houston’s ‘A’ game. Yet the players and coaches knew better. They understood that not only is this Rockets team far beyond the point of deriving pleasure from moral victories but it also simply didn’t play well enough to win on the Staples Center stage.
“To beat the world champs you have to play well and we just didn’t play well enough,” said Shane Battier. “In retrospect you can say, yeah, Kobe only had 22, we held (the Lakers) under 90 points – that’s a game we should have won. But to beat the Lakers in LA you have to play really, really well and we didn’t have that sort of effort tonight.”
Houston’s problems began in the first quarter, a familiar development during the Rockets’ recent road games against the Lakers. Over the course of their last 5 visits to play the Lakers at Staples Center, the Rockets have now been outscored by an average of 9.6 points in the opening frame. Tuesday night the first quarter damage was not QUITE that bad – Houston trailed 22-15 after the first 12 minutes of play – but the Rockets did themselves no favors by beginning the game with 5 turnovers in the first 4 minutes of play and clanking two-thirds of their shots.
And while Houston took better care of the ball in the second quarter, its shooting fared little better. By the time halftime rolled around, the Rockets had hit just 35.9 percent of their shots, including 1-of-14 from three-point land and 4-of-11 from the free throw line. Not surprisingly, the end result was a season-low 33 first half points and only a solid defensive effort managed to keep Houston within striking distance at the break.
“We shot it very poorly and I thought we settled for threes too quickly.” said Rick Adelman. “I thought we were trying to score too quickly with the first option coming down the court. We weren’t moving their people at all and that was a problem.”
Yet for all the Rockets did wrong, they never did allow the Lakers to run away and hide. Far from it in fact. By the end of the third quarter, Houston had managed to trim its deficit to a mere four points and a pair of Battier triples in the final frame actually allowed the Rockets to creep within two with just under four minutes to play.
But Houston would get no closer. Los Angeles closed the game with a 15-8 run as the Lakers flexed their interior muscle, repeatedly exploiting their size advantage with the likes of Andrew Bynum (a game-high 24 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter) and Lamar Odom (17, points, 19 rebounds and 9 assists).
“They’re tough,” admitted Battier. “That’s one thing we can’t fight over – they’re just longer and more athletic than us. When you’re facing a team like that you really have to have great ball movement to get them out of position and make their length less of an issue and obviously we didn’t do that. We were a little sluggish on the offensive end and when you do that it plays right into their hands so that they can use their length.”
For better or worse, the Rockets have little time to lament Tuesday's defeat. The club flew to Phoenix immediately after the game in anticipation of tonight's clash with the Suns, a team currently resting two games in front of the Rockets in the Western Conference's jam-packed playoff picture.
Wednesday's match-up offers Houston a shot at avenging an earlier home defeat to Phoenix and an opportunity to ensure that the team does not suffer its first three-game losing streak of the season. But perhaps more than anything it provides the Rockets with a chance to steer the conversation away from any talk of moral victories while placing the focus back on the only wins that truly matter.
QUOTES
RICK ADELMAN
The guys battled we just got down in the first half and didn’t come out the way we needed to. We battled back and had a chance in the fourth quarter but we shot poor all night long.
We shot it very poorly and I thought we settled for threes too quickly. They did a nice job of dominating the basket area at both ends of the court and we had a hard time with them around the basket. We’ve got to come out better and we’ve got to come out more aggressive. I didn’t think we pushed it, we didn’t move well and it was pretty obvious they were trying to go inside on us at the start and they accomplished that.
We had our chance. You want to give yourself a chance in the fourth quarter with a chance to win – that’s what you’re looking for – but we didn’t finish plays and they did. I thought Bynum was a handful for us.
I thought we were trying to score too quickly with the first option coming down the court. We weren’t moving their people at all and that was a problem. But like I said, we battled back and just didn’t have enough tonight.
SHANE BATTIER
I thought both teams were really sluggish and neither team could really get anything going. In the third quarter we showed a little more life but it was a sluggish game all the way through.
To beat the world champs you have to play well and we just didn’t play well enough. In retrospect you can say, yeah, Kobe only had 22, we held (the Lakers) under 90 points – that’s a game we should have won. But to beat the Lakers in LA you have to play really, really well and we didn’t have that sort of effort tonight.
(LA’s dominance inside): I think they realized that we’re dangerous when we can go to the offensive boards and create extra possessions. You could tell they had a more concerted effort to take away our offensive rebounding and they made us work for extra possessions.
(on the Lakers’ length): They’re tough. That’s one thing we can’t fight over – they’re just longer and more athletic than us. When you’re facing a team like that you really have to have great ball movement to get them out of position and make their length less of an issue and obviously we didn’t do that. We were a little sluggish on the offensive end and when you do that it plays right into their hands so that they can use their length.
It was just one of those nights. We really shot poorly from three and against a team like that you have to hit threes and you have to create extra possessions and we didn’t do that. As a result, we were pretty sluggish offensively.
AARON BROOKS
We did have some good looks. Who knows what it was? I think defensively we did a good job keeping ourselves in the game on the road. We were down 6 or 8 points the whole game and it just seemed like we never could get over the hump.
It felt like we had open shots and we didn’t capitalize on their mistakes. They did just enough to keep us away. We don’t like to lose games like that in that type of way where you have opportunities to make a push or make a run and you’re just sitting there. It seemed like every timeout we were saying, ‘Let’s go, let’s go!’ and it just never went.
(settling for too many jumpers?): I don’t think it was just that we were taking threes, I think it was that we weren’t moving the ball before we were taking the threes – they weren’t rhythm threes, we were just coming down and throwing up shots at times. That’s how it goes some games but we definitely shot too many jumpers in the first half.
TREVOR ARIZA
on playing in Los Angeles against the Lakers:
“Well, I’ve done it before. It’s no big deal. Unfortunately, today we didn’t win.”
on whether the Rockets’ were prepared to go against the large Lakers lineup under the basket:
“Well we knew they were going to be big. You know, we don’t have the size for them so we tried to do other things, like team rebounds, game rebounds and all that. But they were quicker to the ball than we were tonight.Andrew is just too big for us right now.”
PHIL JACKSON
on tonight’s game:
“Well for a team that scored 130 points the other night looked like it was a struggle for us to score tonight. Pace was much slower. A lot of things happening out there where they stopped our pace and the way we wanted to run it. We were able to finish this game better than I expected.”
on who he thought showed the most energy tonight:
“The guy that was unable to practice yesterday and was pretty sick was the guy that was the star in the game, Lamar Odom. With 19 rebounds he had great energy out there, pursuing the ball and doing the things, 9 assists, you know, 17 points. It was a terrific game.”
on Andrew Bynum’s performance tonight:
“Andrew played as well as he plays, it was a good game for him. We took advantage of him in the post.”
on how the pace of the game was slowed down:
“How the balls came off, the amount of steals, pushed the ball, their ability to get back and cover quickly with the speed of this team. All of those things played into it.”
on Lamar Odom’s performance tonight:
“It makes me very proud of my son, Lamar. He knew we were at a deficit tonight without Pau and DJ was sick, you know, we were short big guys and he stayed in there and fought.”
on Ron Artest’s impact on defense tonight:
“He had part of that, you know, his defense is a part of that. You know he made some bone head play that guys will do coming back, his timing wasn’t quite there, you know he had turnovers but we had a lot of them as a team… But I thought for a first game back I think Ron was OK.”
KOBE BRYANT
on tonight’s game:
“I thought it was ok, we managed to keep control of the game and we didn’t really have to kick it into a sixth gear or anything like that, we kept control of the tempo which is important.”
on Lamar Odom’s performance:
“He had a great performance, very impressive, he is really locked in. He is doing what we need him to do and he has been playing excellent, focused basketball.”
on playing with sick and injured players:
“We just have to perform, I mean we have a job to do and we just have to go out and do it. You have to play hard and try and play the right way and get the right result.”
ANDREW BYNUM
on his second half performance:
“I just got more touches and I got my touch back around the rim, shots started falling for me and it just got easier from there.”
on if he was happy with his performance tonight:
“Most definitely. I came out and was aggressive and good things happened for me out there.
RON ARTEST
on being back in the game:
“It feels good, we won tonight and that’s the most important thing. Really I do not care about myself as long as we win.”
on playing the Clippers tomorrow:
“Tomorrow, they are a good team. They put a good team together last year but they had a lot of injuries and trades. It is going to be a tough game. It will be cool, especially if they become a good team. It would be good for LA, Lakers and Clippers.”
LAMAR ODOM
on playing sick tonight:
“I feel a little better. I feel like I am getting better. I slept a long time this afternoon.”
on his role with the Lakers:
“That’s why I stayed with the team, to try to repeat as champions. You never know with the season being so long, injuries just play their way. That’s why it is important to have a strong team depth. I take pride in being a strong six man.”
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