I can sigh in relief. The last few Q-by-Q's, Halftime, and Full Recap posts have been frustrating to cover because I sound like a broken record whenever my Lakers or my Raiders lose so far this season, but all I can say is the drought is over, my goodness. Countless times this game, it looked like the Rockets we're going to put us away, but they couldn't and the Lakers kept fighting, scratching, and clawing, and they got a win. There's one glaring omission though in this game, no Dwight Howard. A lot of Rockets fans will point to that as an excuse, but I'm disappointed Dwight didn't play, even though the outcome would've been a lot different had he been there for the Rockets. It's a great feeling to see a win against the Rockets, but it's bittersweet that it wasn't at the expense of Dwight, that would've been great icing on the cake, for all of us Laker fans that is.
The Positives
Kobe Bryant, 26 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 10-28 shooting. The last few shots Kobe attempted and missed almost gave me a heart attack because when he makes those shots to try and play hero ball, we end up losing the game anyway. Yes he hasn't had the efficient numbers, yes his shot selection can be questionable, but you can't deny his will to win. Some of the shots Kobe made this game were instrumental to the Lakers' monster run. His "And 1" over Ariza was one of the turning points of the game. At the end of the day, Kobe doesn't care how many attempts he makes, he cares about finding ways to help the Lakers win whether to get his teammates involved or take it upon himself to light a fire under the team.
Jordan Hill, 16 points, 10 rebounds, 7-12 shooting. Hill found the sweet shooting stroke down the stretch. Some of the shots he made were also instrumental to the Lakers run. Like I said countless times, Mr. All-Out Hustle will give it 100% in rebounding and fighting for all the loose balls and on the defensive side, Hill was rebounding like crazy. In fact, let's involve Ed Davis in this category because both Davis and Hill grabbed some key rebounds that were detrimental for the Lakers to make run. However scoring-wise, Hill did the work and it benefited greatly.
Nick Young, 16 points, 6-15 shooting. We are officially 2-0 with Swaggy P this season! I did say when Young comes back, he's going to make a nominal difference providing that spark off the bench, but it won't translate to enough wins. Well, I'm enjoying that jinx for now. Kobe needed someone to take the load off of him in terms of scoring and Nick Young's return helped that. When the starting lineup seems gassed out the way they were this game, Nick Young provided that scoring to give a little kick into the offense and the result? The Lakers won two games by close margins and swept their back-to-back road trip. Thanks Swaggy.
Wesley Johnson, 9 points, 2 steals. His numbers may not be impressive, but Wes came up big in crunch time. When Kobe missed a shot that would've pulled the Lakers within 1, Wes crashed the boards, drew the foul, made two clutch free throws. The next sequence, he made a great steal on Harden and laid it up on the break and 1 while Harden was going for a chase down and that put the Lakers up by two. There's always that unsung hero in sports and Wesley Johnson was that unsung hero for the Lakers down the stretch.
The Negatives
Carlos Boozer, 12 points, 5-15 shooting, 13 rebounds. Boozer started well this game, scoring the Lakers' 8 of their 21 points in the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, he made a layup and 1 and then all of a sudden it went down hill from there. Boozer was missing his typical jump shots in the 2nd half and couldn't finish his layups when the ball was fed to him. I didn't like the fact that he was getting pushed around by James Harden when he was posting him up and Harden is bad at defense. Boozer started off a great, but he finished with a dud.
3 point defense. The Rockets' 3 pointers were killing us all game long. Dwight Howard's out, the Rockets barely score in the paint, but they still got the offense going from beyond the arc. I could tell, the defense couldn't keep up with them because of their speed and how quickly they stretch the floor and set their feet from the 3 point line. The Rockets shot 15-38 in their 3 pointers while the Lakers only just shot 5-20. The reason why the Rockets' 3 point percentage is not as good as it should be with the way they were playing is game is because they started living and dying by it and they knew our defense was bad! But, glad they were able to miss some and it gave the Lakers opportunity, but that's an area we have to improve on, especially since we lack size, we gotta be able to handle teams that like to play small and stretch the floor.
Conclusion
Overall, I'll take the win despite the glaring fact Dwight Howard did not play. Like I said before, the Lakers did not quit. When they were missing shots and while the Rockets were making their shots, it looked like the Rockets were going to pour it on and pull away, but this has to be the identity that Byron Scott has to implement from here on out. They may not be a contender, but they're a team that can remain competitive and can hustle, scratch, and claw out of their way for a victory and whenever opportunity is around, they should cash it in and not squander it. Dwight Howard's absence gave an opportunity for the Lakers to upset the Rockets, it almost slipped away, but they got a grip and cashed in with a come from behind win. The next nationally televised Laker game is next Wednesday against the ever gritty Grizzlies, that's going to be tough, but before that, they have the Mavs on the road yet again and they're back home against the Nuggets. Expect quick recaps for those two games, but I'll see you back for the Memphis game.
*Another announcement, Thursday Night Football is tomorrow. The Raiders host their lone prime time home game against the divisional arch-rival Kansas City Chiefs. I hope we can get our first win of the season. It's been a year already since our last win and even though we solidify our top pick, we need a win to save us from further futility. It's been a good week so far, so I hope the Raiders don't mar this with another loss. I'll see you guys for that game tomorrow night.*
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