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Since I’m here at the game, I’m going to try blogging live! Your comments can also be included after I review them.
If it turns out I can’t concentrate on the game using this thing, then I’ll go to the forum.
I’m courtside at Toyota Center before tonight’s brawl..er, I mean, game. As usual, Yao is working hard, coming out at least 2 1/2 hours early for shootaround before anyone else. Just a few minutes ago he finished up watching on a laptop some of the defensive clips put together for him to prep for the game. The guy never stops working.
Von Wafer and James White came out afterwards. Von is working up a big-time sweat. Watching him from courtside, it’s unbelievable how high he gets up on his jump shots.
Ren has written a post for his blog that he felt like sharing with YaoMingMania. Check it out…
Kobe Bryant is Darth Vader. Phil Jackson is Emperor Palpatine. Sasha Vujacic is Jar Jar Binks if Jar Jar were a Jedi gone to the Dark Side. Because he sure pulled the Jedi mind trick on Von Wafer. They were former teammates, the have history. It’s obvious. And Jar Jar already knows how to get under any player’s skin–but particularly Wafer because of how much Wafer wants to show up the Lakers. But Von needs to be careful. He built an NBA career with this season. He can’t go and ruin it now because he can’t let Jar Jar’s antics go.
Back to the Lakers as Empire analogy… it doesn’t even have to be science fiction. The Lakers, like any empire in history with their grandiosity and prestige, merely expected to get their way. Game 1 was a rude awakening and, of course, in Game 2, Vader and the Lakers had to regulate with a heavy hand. Which means shoulders, elbows and knees, oh my.
This from the NBA rule book that substantiates why Bryant should be suspended for Game 3.
“A player, coach or trainer may be ejected for:
(1) An elbow foul which makes contact shoulder level or below
(2) Any unsportsmanlike conduct where a technical foul is assessed
(3) A flagrant foul where unnecessary and/or excessive contact occurs”
and this…
“Elbow fouls, which make contact above shoulder level, and punching fouls, although recorded as both personal and team fouls, are unsportsmanlike acts. The player will be ejected immediately.”
I love how SportsRadio610’s Matt Jackson said a few minutes ago that Bryant is a “douche.”
Regarding Derek Fisher, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that thug will be suspended.
Step up, Stu Jackson, on suspending Bryant with Fisher. It’s long overdue.
All it takes is two words to describe Game 2 and the rest of the series: “It’s on.”
I was taking all kinds of notes Wednesday night during the game and was preparing for my standard post-game analysis, but after seeing how things went down, I’ve got to put those notes aside for a few minutes. I’ll write about the game itself further down the page.
Right now, it’s obvious what the storyline of Game 2 is. It’s not that the Rockets lost 111-98. It comes down to one thing: thuggery. Which is too bad, because before Game 1, you could at least respect the Lakers for being a good team that won games fair-and-square.
Maybe all that talk about not being ‘tough enough’ when they lost in the Finals to the Celtics last season had gotten into their heads after losing Game 1 against the Rockets. They were out to prove a point against a tough group of Rocket players that they were going to come out aggressive. In fact, too aggressive. Unfortunately for them, I think it’ll backfire.
First, let’s talk about the no-brainer call that the refs got right, to their credit. Derek Fisher throwing an elbow — and body — into Luis Scola was bush league. It was the right call to give him a “flagrant 2” and eject him. You gotta love Scola for then stepping up to the line with everyone booing him and hitting the two technical FTs.
It’s just too bad that TNT analyst Doug Collins, who had the benefit of the replay in front of him, was actually complimenting and fawning over Fisher for being a “tough guy” in a good way! If there was ever a time an analyst had to be embarrassed for not even coming close to seeing what the refs saw — a premeditated act with intent to excessively harm another player — this was it. I like Collins, but I’ve heard other fans call into radio shows wondering why the guy is so biased for big name players. I now see what they mean.
Of course, the biggest episode was the REFS BLOWING THE CALL BY NOT CATCHING KOBE’S DIRTY ELBOW TO RON ARTEST‘S THROAT, INSTEAD CALLING A FOUL ON ARTEST, AND THEN EJECTING ARTEST AFTER HE CONFRONTED KOBE WHEN THE REFS WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE CHEAP SHOT!
I wish there was a better angle from the other side where you could actually see the full force of Bryant’s elbow hitting Artest’s windpipe.
I really believe this cheap shot deserves a suspension, especially if you take into account the other elbow and knee that he threw on Battier in Game 1…
…and then tried to rope him like a calf to take him to the slaughtering pen. Disturbing…
Don’t buy Bryant’s glossing over this with the B.S. line that this is simply “playoff basketball.” It’s called a cheap shot to gain an unfair advantage. Anyone who buys that line is a fool, and I’ve got some AIG stock to sell them.
If the refs or league execs had done the right thing after Game 1 and suspended Bryant for what would have been classified as assault and battery on a city street, then maybe it would have sent a message to Bryant that crap like that wasn’t going to be tolerated, no matter how big of a star he is. BUT NOOOO, STU JACKSON AND THE LEAGUE EXECS DID NOTHING AND HE DID IT AGAIN!
Now you’ve got the outcome of Game 2 marred because of what happened with Artest reacting, as he’s entitled, after HE is called for the foul instead of Bryant, then doing what Charles Barkley said after the game he thought Artest was entitled to do — go confront Bryant about it.
And it wasn’t the initial confrontation that got Artest ejected. It was poor judgment by a terrible official — Joey Crawford — to give Artest another technical that ejected him when he was a far enough distance away from Bryant, still jawing at him for telling him don’t ever do that again.
I’m sorry, but when you’re about to give a 2nd technical to a player, if he has separated himself from the initial dust-up, and he’s jawing at another player who just hit him in the throat, you don’t give him a second tech unless he’s having to be physically restrained to keep him from hitting or killing someone.
I think if you look at Bryant’s ‘body of work’ in this series, or should I say “ELBOW of work,” Bryant (and Fisher) should be sent a clear message that no matter how big of a star you are, how nice of a guy you may appear to be, or how many playoff games you’ve played, THEY SHOULD BOTH BE SUSPENDED FOR 1 GAME EACH.
I think these blows by Bryant will backfire. When he was lighting Houston up with all those jump shots early in the game (25 at the time of the elbow), I was thinking man, this guy is going to torch the Rockets the rest of the series and the Rockets are going to be in serious trouble.
But now, I think he has ignited a fire under the Rockets to send them into orbit. I liked how Kenny and Charles on TNT were saying that Houston has tough guys (or “pit bulls”), naming off Artest, Battier, Landry, Lowry, Hayes and Scola as examples. Hell, when the Rockets are getting Kenny & Charles’ respect, you’ve got to think they’ve reached the next level.
I agree the Rockets are tough. And I think Bryant has angered them, and Houston fans, such that Bryant will not only hear it at Toyota Center in Games 3 & 4, there will also be some old Evergreen, Colorado signs coming out of mothballs from the Red Rowdies to taunt him.
But I think the Rocket players are hopefully going to take it a step further: make sure when they foul him, they will be HARD FOULS that will throw him off his game. His trash-talking a couple of times during Game 2 to Battier saying, “You can’t guard me” will give them even a little more motivation to shut his trap up.
Ironically, the little dust-up between Von Wafer and Rick Adelman where Wafer was sent to the locker room after the 3rd quarter has been completely overshadowed by Fisher and Bryant’s bush league plays. I can bet you that Wafer and Adelman are going to be fine. Adelman will probably say on Thursday that he’s just a young player who is passionate about wanting to help his team win, it was in the heat of the moment, and Adelman did the right thing by telling Wafer to go to the locker room to chill.
There was a game played, too
Sure, Rockets fans were disappointed that Yao didn’t get more touches (3-of-4 FGs for 12 points). He got into foul trouble early, legit calls or not, which affected some of that.
Yao sat on the bench for about 14 minutes more than normal because of foul trouble, but was still active in cheering his teammates on. Click here for more photos from the game.
But the real problem was the Lakers applying a fronting defense like he encountered during the Portland series. Pau Gasol ended up fronting Yao many times, and it worked.
For some reason, Yao didn’t seem to be fighting all that hard to get open all the time in the paint. And where were the 22-foot jump shot opportunities like he had in Game 1 that he drained? It’s not that hard to get open for those.
Not that the defense was all that great, but Yao just doesn’t seem to be able to fight all that hard to get open, either down low in the paint, or even coming out to take 15-20 foot jumpers. And on top of that, he was congesting the lane and not spreading out the defense, such that Aaron Brooks couldn’t drive through open lanes to the bucket, which mitigated the success he had against the Lakers in Game 1.
If anything, if Yao can’t get open, the Rockets need to call plays for Brooks because we’ve seen what he can do when he blows by Fisher. After scoring 19 points on 7-of-14 shots in Game 1, Brooks only scored 15 on 5-of-15 shots, with some of those shots made in the fourth quarter after a victory was out of reach.
On the bright side, Artest had another good game before getting ejected. 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting. And Carl Landry was the Landry of old, scoring 16 points in the 2nd quarter, although he did miss 5 free throws in that quarter, and finishing with 21. But at least he may be back to his old form under the boards and around the basket, something we hadn’t really seen that much from him since the gunshot wound.
There’s so much more to this game I want to write about, but the Fisher-Kobe thing really got me going, it’s getting late, this post is getting long enough, and I’ve got plenty to say about Game 2 for my next post before Game 3. If you want to read some of what Yao had to say after the game, Raymond has transcribed it in the forum here.
Before signing off for now, I do need to end this post with the following thoughts (recommended if you’re a Kobe hater)…
As expected, Yao’s right knee was fine at practice today. There was no swelling or pain. It was just a little sore, and it shouldn’t stop him from playing in Game 2. His trainers wanted to put ice on the knee as a precaution, at which time he joked, “Oh no, not the C-cups again.”
Click here for more photos of Yao at the practice.
When he was asked what kind of defensive changes the Lakers would make on him in Game 2, he joked that he would call his friend Sun Yue (from the Chinese National team who is also on the Lakers roster) to find out.
I know many of you are like me after watching what we witnessed against the Lakers Monday night. Words can’t explain the amazement Yao and Rocket fans must be feeling after they shocked the basketball world with a 100-92 victory IN LOS ANGELES against the vaunted Laker machine in Game 1.
There was no 4th quarter collapse, nor a dramatic buzzer-beating shot that made you feel like the Rockets were lucky to win it. Instead, as the game progressed you actually felt they could win this thing, and would deserve it. What’s going on here?.
And Monday night Yao Ming showed casual basketball fans who are just tuning into this series what his fans, and Rocket fans, have known for years: that Yao will do whatever he can to not let his team down. His return from the tunnel was mini-Willis Reed moment.
No one knows if the Rockets will win this series, but if they don’t, at least Yao’s toughness will never be questioned as it once might have.
When he went down in the fourth quarter with 4:54 remaining in tremendous pain after bumping knees with Kobe Bryant, you had to think during the commercial break that the season might be lost. It was so demoralizing to see him go down like that and writhe in pain. I was soon thinking the worst: a 4-game sweep. The basketball gods couldn’t be this cruel, could they?
As the commercial continued, I tried not to panic, but to suck it up and think positive thoughts. After all, I have banged my knees several times, as I’m sure all of us have, and when it happens, it’s got to be one of the most painful things you can experience. Just a few weeks ago I banged my knee in a bus, collapsed into a seat and was completely paralyzed because of the pain, similar to how Yao looked as he fell to the floor. But after a few minutes, I felt lucky that I got my range of motion back and could actually walk. Surely, that must be what Yao would do, right?
After TNT came back from the commercial, we got to see what could become one of the most memorable sports moments in Rockets history, and it didn’t happen on the court. It was Yao telling trainer Keith Jones in the tunnel on the way to the locker room to get his knee checked out that he wanted to go back into the game. He then stretched his knee a little bit, said it was okay, then headed back to the court still with a grimace on his face.
Yao would check back into the game, and it wouldn’t just be a token experience with him hobbling around out there filling up space. No, instead he would hit a 20-foot jumper with 3:18 remaining that pushed the Rockets’ slim lead to 87-81 to give them a little more breathing room (I’ve been saying all season long he needs to take more of those long jumpers, and he’s doing more of it lately). He would also go on to hit 6 free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.
My favorite plays were the three moves he made down in the low post, being very aggressive taking it to the rack for dunks, including the move he made with 3:59 remaining in the 3rd quarter when he was double-teamed along the baseline, but somehow was able to spin around both defenders, elevate and throw it down one-handed. In all my years of watching Yao get double-teamed, that’s the best reaction I’ve seen him in that situation. Jaw dropping.
By the end of the game, the numbers were big: 28 points on 9-of-17 shots, 10 rebounds, 10-of-10 free throws, and 2 blocked shots in 40 minutes of play, longer than normal compared to his 33 1/2 minutes he averaged during the regular season. Oh yeah, he only had 2 turnovers, which we thought was going to be Yao’s Achilles heel against the aggressive Laker defense, but wasn’t too bad considering we’ve seen games where he’s turned it over 5-7 times a game.
I still can’t believe they pulled this game out when no one thought they could actually win this game. The confidence in these guys is growing before our eyes, very reminiscent of last year’s 22-game winning streak. Except now it’s happening in the spotlight right when every game is critical to survival.
All game long you had to wonder as the Rockets built small leads only to have the Lakers chip away at it, how long it would take for the Rockets to fall behind, raise the white flag, and chalk the game up to the Lakers as being a better team.
But Houston continued to will its way to make plays to hold LA off, especially in that fourth quarter where the Lakers have had so much success in their 4 wins over the Rockets this season, outscoring them 127-80 in the fourth quarter. Instead, the tables were turned, with the Rockets outscoring the Lakers 30-25 in the fourth quarter, and hitting 15-of-16 free throws in that final quarter.
The Rockets came out as strong as they finished, bolting out to a 19-12 lead after an 11-4 run. Ron Artest started out making 3 of his first 3 shot attempts, one including a Von Wafer-esque throwdown dunk along the baseline that showed he meant business in this game!
By halftime, Artest was demonstrating his Portland Game 6 return to prominence was not a fluke. He was 5-of-9 from the field with 12 points which included two 3-pointers, along with 3 assists, and only 1 turnover. By the time the clock hit zero at the end of the game, his shooting percentage was thankfully still above 50% (8-of-15), he was 50% from three-point land (3-of-6), and had 7 assists with only 2 turnovers.
And the sometimes-maligned Aaron Brooks shocked a few people in this Game 1 like he did in his last Game 1 against Portland: the Lakers couldn’t stop him either. He consistently attacked the basket and got to the rack multiple times, confusing the Laker defense who didn’t know what to do to stop him. He’d blow by Derek Fisher and then put quick shots off the glass among the Laker bigs on his way 19 points on 7-of-14 shots, and that’s after making only 1-of-5 three-pointers.
I know many people wish he’d throw the ball to Yao more, but who can complain when he gets to the rack like he can to score, forcing the defense to think about ways of stopping him? That can only be better for his teammates as the Lakers will most certainly have to adjust. He’s got them on their heels, and he’s in their heads.
I like what Rick Adelman did with Brooks in the fourth quarter: he paired him up with point guard Kyle Lowry. For a man who only scored 6 points, Lowry was sensational, hitting 2-of-4 shots, making 2 free throws late in the game, grabbing 4 big rebounds, and dishing 2 assists.
Luis Scola had a “quiet” 10 points on 4-of-9 shots, but he grabbed 8 boards and had 2 steals. Just a quiet day at the office for Luis. And we can’t forget about Shane Battier, who in my opinion received a cheap shot from Sasha Vujacic after he had a “free shot” on Battier’s head after knocking a ball away that Shane was about to grab. Vujacic had no right to continue swinging his arm down like he did, and knew he could probably get away with throwing his hand down on Battier’s noggin as a pure accident. The strike right above Shane’s eye made him bleed like a busted tomato. It wasn’t pretty, as I’m sure the 4 stitches Battier needed above his eye. If Vujacic’s haymaker had landed just a couple of inches lower, Battier might be out of this series for good.
I will be curious to see if the Rockets players, after taking a look at the tape, come to the same conclusion I did and are going to try to send a message that they aren’t going to let a cheap shot pass like that, kind of like how a pitcher in baseball will throw a fastball right into the ribs of an opposing player who tried to show them up
If the Rockets keep playing like this, that image of Battier all bloodied could be the signature photo used by ESPN and TNT in their video montages to show the toughness of this Rockets team if they beat the Lakers. That, and Yao hobbling back from the tunnel to come back into the game.
As each one of these playoff games grow in importance, especially with the drama the Rockets are providing to us, there’s way too much to write in one sitting. I could continue to ramble on as I try to put everything into perspective on what this game meant to Houston’s confidence. But rather than try to predict what will happen or talk about the details of this particular game, who can’t help but just wanting to look forward to the next game to see what will amaze us next.
Photo links from Game 1:
– Monday’s practice where there was a Steve Novak and Marcus Camby sighting
– Monday’s shootaround at Staples Center where he talked with Sun Yue
– Action photos from the game
– Close-up of Ron Artest’s new haircut
Raymond has posted lots of photos in the forum of Yao and the Rockets attending Sunday’s fan rally at Toyota Center before leaving for LA to start their playoff series against the Lakers.
I love the playoffs, especially after a series has been won. It takes the fan intensity to another level.
Raymond has translated another interview that Yao gave where he talked about his feelings of getting out of the first round, his assessment of the Rockets’ current team compared to teams of previous years, what they must do in the second round of the playoffs, and his prediction of their chances of advancing to the Western Conference Finals.
I also thought it was interesting to read what Yao said in Chinese about the foul problems he thinks he can get Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum into.
As Rocket fans, we know how it feels after 12 consecutive years to have disappointing ends to seasons. Well, actually it’s been 14 years because anything short of a championship is a downer.
But in this case, there was something about this Portland team that made me want to follow how their players and fans were feeling after they lost the series Thursday. Maybe it’s because we’ve been through so many disappointing playoff exits like Rocket fans have endured through the years, we know how it feels and Portland and their fans didn’t do anything to piss us off during the series that makes us want to trash them.
From all reports I read, their crowd their the playoffs was very similar to Houston’s in that they were energetic and enthusiastic as you’d expect, but not annoying or obscene. There are always going to be outliers in every crowd that the media might overhype to make the entire crowd look bad, but NOTHING like all those savages in Salt Lake we’ve seen the past two playoff seasons.
It was so refreshing to have the Rockets play in front of a playoff crowd on the road that weren’t some of the most vile and obscene in the NBA. Salt Lake always amazes me because even when you’re watching on TV a Utah game, you can see the hatred in their actions and on their faces coming through the screen. And I thought Salt Lake had lots of goodie-goodies like Donny & Marie! Why do they turn into such monsters once they enter EnergySolutions arena?