ROCKETS SHOCK LAKERS IN GAME ONE OF NBA WEST SEMIS

No one really made a big deal about the Houston Rockets’ opening round game 1 win on the Portland Trailblazers’ home court.  The Blazers, after all, are the NBA’s youngest team and were facing a veteran Houston squad in their first real playoff experience.   What they did on Monday night, however, is definitely a ‘big deal’:  the Rockets shocked the presumptive Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers on their home court in game one of their second round series.   The Rockets took control of a tight game in the fourth quarter and went on to defeat the Lakers 100-98 and take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.

Yao Ming survived a hard knee-to-knee collision with Kobe Bryant to lead the Rockets with 28 points, adding 10 rebounds for the ‘double/double’.  Ron Artest added 21 points, Aaron Brooks 19 and Luis Scola 10 to complete Houston’s double digit scoring attack.  The Lakers were paced by Kobe Bryant’s 32 points, while Pau Gasol contributed a ‘double/double’ to the losing effort with 14 points and 13 rebounds.  Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum added 10 points each for the Lakers, who were undone by a woeful 44.3% shooting night from the field.  Their performance was even uglier from three point range—2 for 18 for an 11.1% shooting percentage.

While Yao downplayed his injury, which necessitated a quick trip to the dressing room, the rest of the Rockets most definitely did not.  Head coach Rick Adelman quipped:

"I don't know what our trainer did to Yao. It was like Rocky coming back out there. We really needed him on the court."

Veteran teammate Ron Artest also praised Yao’s toughness and dedication:

"He didn't even make it to the training room. 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."

Despite the media’s concern with Yao’s knee, he quickly brushed aside his injury to focus on his team’s victory:

"My knee feels fine, thanks for asking. 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. 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."

Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson, conversely, didn’t have much good to say about his team’s game one effort:

"I didn't like the start of the game at all. 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. I don't know if we could play much worse, quite honestly.”

Kobe Bryant agreed:

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

Game two will be back at The Staples Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, with games three and four in Houston beginning on Friday.  While no one on the Lakers is expressing panic at having lost the first game of a seven game series, there is one ‘big picture’ statistic hanging over their head:  the team that wins the opening game of the best of seven series in the NBA has gone on to win that series 80% of the time.