UNDERMANNED ROCKETS STUN LAKERS TO FORCE GAME 7

When Houston Rockets superstar Yao Ming suffered a season ending injury in game three of their Western Conference semifinal series with the Los Angeles Lakers, few gave his team much hope of advancing without him.  His teammates, however, had other plans—on Thursday night in Houston the Rockets used a balanced scoring attack and tenacious defense to defeat the Lakers 95-80 and even the best of seven series at 3-3.  Game 7 will be contested in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, with the victor facing the Denver Nuggets for the right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.

The undermanned Rockets have used the prevailing belief in the sports media that they would be summarily dismissed by the Lakers in the wake of Yao’s injury as a motivating force, and have been sparked by the floor leadership shown by the mercurial Ron Artest.  After Thursday’s game, Houston coach Rick Adelman summed up the mood of his team:

"For the last two days, all I've heard is that we weren't going back to L.A. Our guys in the locker room didn't believe that."

This perception was also reflected in the sports betting milieu—while Houston was a +1’ home dog in game three, that number had ballooned to 9 points on Thursday night.  The pointspread hasn’t been a factor in any of the six games of the series, however, with the SU winner also covering the spread in every game.  Four of the six games in the series have gone UNDER, with Thursday’s 175 combined points nowhere near the posted total of 198. 

Houston was paced by Aaron Brooks’ 26 points, while Luis Scola posted a ‘double/double’ with 24 points and 12 rebounds.  Reserve forward Carl Landry also flirted with a ‘double/double’, finishing with 15 points and 9 boards.  Ron Artest also added 14 to round out the Rockets’ double digit scoring attack.  As a team, the Rockets shot a solid 50.7% from the field.

The Lakers, meanwhile, struggled on offense and finished with a miserable 35.7% shooting effort.  Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 32 points, but didn’t get much help from his teammates.  Pao Gasol’s ‘double/double’ of 14 points and 11 rebounds was the only other significant production from the Lakers’ starting five—minus Gasol and Kobe the other three Laker starters combined for a mere 9 points.  Reserve Jordan Farmar had another solid game, scoring 13 points and Lamar Odom contributed a decent effort off the bench finishing with 8 points and 14 rebounds.

In his postgame comments, Kobe Bryant paid tribute to the Rockets’ mental toughness and on-court tenacity:

"They all have the same mentality, they all fight for everything that they get. That's why we're in the position that we're in right now. They don't quit. So Game 7 is going to be exciting."

Lakers’ head coach Phil Jackson tried to convey a message of calm despite the popular perception that this series should have been over by now in the wake of Yao Ming’s injury:

"There's nothing to worry about. We are just going to go out and play. It's our home court and it's what we play for. We play a different game on our court, and that's pretty obvious to see."

The Lakers have been installed as 11 point favorites in game 7, with the total set at 194’.  Los Angeles has covered six of the last eight meetings between the two teams on their home court.  Two of the three Lakers SU/ATS wins in the series have gone OVER the total.