Lakers vs. Rockets: Score and Twitter Reaction
In Round 1, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard said what they thought of each other in a near brawl. In Round 2, Howard killed a large part of the intrigue by sitting out with an injury. But at least the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets gave fans a basketball game worth watching this time around.
Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill each turned in double-doubles and the Lakers scored the game's last nine points en route to a 98-92 victory over the Howard-less Rockets on Wednesday.
Houston missed Howard's presence throughout the game, but its plight without its All-Star center came to a head on a critical sequence that helped decide the game. Following a wild missed three-pointer from Bryant, the Rockets allowed an offensive rebound that resulted in Wesley Johnson finishing a layup plus the foul. Johnson's free throw gave Los Angeles a 94-92 lead with 43 seconds remaining.
The Rockets' next trip down the floor was a stilted offensive possession that ended in a post-up—for Howard replacement Tarik Black. Black's twisting turnaround attempt missed, and Nick Young knocked down two clutch free throws to seal the game after the Lakers grabbed the rebound.
Howard played 28 minutes in the Rockets' 119-93 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, but reporters saw him after the game. Though he initially downplayed the injury and was expected to be in the lineup, the Rockets ruled him out with a strained knee just before tipoff. Howard did not watch the game from the Houston bench, and the team has not given a timetable for his return.
"Bumps and bruises," Howard told Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle on Monday. "I'm getting old. I'm going to need a cane in a second. But it's all good. This is just the usual post-game pain. I'll be all right though, God willing."
James Harden, flustered into a six-point performance by Tony Allen on Monday, again started slowly. He went scoreless for nearly the entire first half and had attempted only two shots at the halftime break, taking on far more of a distributor role.
Instead the first-half scoring burden went to Kostas Papanikolaou, who scored 16 of his career-high 19 points before the break. The Lakers left the Greek rookie wide-open at points thanks to poor defensive rotations, and he blitzed them from the wing and corners. Consistent shooting has been the only thing to hold Papanikolaou back in his young NBA career, as he's shown above-average rebounding capabilities and is a plus passer for a forward.
Harden reclaimed his status as the offensive fulcrum in the second half, expertly weaving his way into the paint for easy shots near the rim or to draw the foul. Stylistically, Harden has taken a beating as his career progresses for the at-times aesthetic horror show that is his game. But he's arguably the best in the world at drawing fouls and finished with 24 points on only 11 shots. It's not pretty, but it is good basketball.
The Lakers, coming off their first road win of the season Tuesday night in Atlanta, earned their first win over a Western Conference opponent this season. Bryant threw up 28 shots to get his 29 points but added seven assists, and the Los Angeles offense at times bordered on cohesive. Boozer turned in his second straight double-double, and Hill had his fourth consecutive.
Hill and Boozer kept going to the back-to-the-basket well for most of the night. With Howard out, the Rockets started the undrafted Black at center. While Black has looked fine in limited minutes this season and may carve out a long-term niche as a backup big, Wednesday night served as proof of how desperately Houston needs Howard to stay on the floor.
The Lakers were able to break through the Rockets' so-so perimeter defense and get decent looks at the basket, though some players (mostly wings) struggled finishing. Houston came into the game with the league's most efficient defense, but the Lakers' offensive rebounding numbers and the looks they got at the rim exposed the Rockets' depth problems.
Last season Houston could have plugged Omer Asik, among the league's best half-dozen rim protectors, into Howard's spot. Asik's trade to New Orleans and the Rockets' lack of a proper replacement left Kevin McHale at times running a five-out system with no obvious rim protector on the floor. Those lineups can work in short spurts against below-average offenses, but it's an issue that may have long-term ramifications.
Outside of the Howard injury, the Lakers' effort also received a boost from Young, who provided a spark off the bench in his second game of the season. Young scored 16 points, 13 of which came in the second half. He hasn't shown many adverse signs from the thumb injury that kept him out the first 10 games. It's also worth noting—mostly because he'll tell us all even if we ignore it—that the Lakers are undefeated with Swaggy P back in the lineup.
"That's the thing that I love about Nick," Lakers coach Byron Scott told reporters Tuesday. "He brings positive energy. He's an energy giver, not taker, and that's what we need."
The widespread praise of Young comes largely from his infectious personality, but he's not without merit on this team. Young will likely become the de facto second scoring option next to Bryant over the course of the season. Anyone who watched the Lakers in their first 10 games knows Bryant needs help anywhere he can get it—even if it comes in the redundant chucker department.
Young's swag may not rub off on his teammates enough to make the Lakers a playoff team, but it could make help them competent. After the first few weeks, that's a reason to be positive.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
