When a contender like the Houston Rockets are hosting a Los Angeles Lakers team at home without Kobe Bryant, you expect them to walk away with an easy win. That should especially be the case when the Lakers’ two best players – Steve Nash and Pau Gasol – look like a very old shell of themselves.
Instead, Houston allowed the Lakers to get out to a 36-19 lead in the first quarter and had to play catch-up for most of the contest. It managed to hold Los Angeles to just 35 points in the second half and took the lead late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t secure the win when the Lakers successfully utilized the Hack-A-Dwight strategy. Dwight Howard hit just five-of-12 attempts from the stripe down the stretch – five-of-16 overall – and the team failed to execute on both ends of the floor when it mattered most. Still, they held a relatively comfortable two-point lead heading into the final seconds of the game, until another miscue on the defensive end gave Steve Blake a wide-open look at a 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of Howard:
Blake hit the game-winning shot – just like everyone drew it up – to give his team the 99-98 victory and had plenty watching the game jumping with excitement. Here are some reactions from twitter, including one from the man of the hour:
Laker Nation: I was in my hotel room in Miami screaming like the @Lakers won the championship when Steve Blake hit that shot!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 8, 2013
The Blake mamba #blakemamba 1 — Chris Webber (@realchriswebber) November 8, 2013
Holy shot steve blake! #nba — chase budinger (@CBudinger) November 8, 2013
WOW!!!!! — DeJuan Blair (@DeJuan45) November 8, 2013
Wow. — Jason Thompson (@jtthekid) November 8, 2013
Some buh-roootal execution late in the Lakers/Rockets match. Bofe teams. Wow. — Rex Chapman (@rexchapman) November 8, 2013
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) November 8, 2013
Thank you Jesus!! Great team win for us all. Everyone contributed big time! And a big thanks to the Laker family out there for your support!
— Steve Blake (@SteveBlake5) November 8, 2013
The tweet by former player Rex Chapman summed up this contest best: a total mess of a game. Games like these are ones that a team like the Rockets – who are looking to make noise in the playoffs – can’t afford to lose if they want homecourt advantage. Based on what we saw in this contest, however, there appears to be plenty of kinks to iron out as the season progresses for Houston.
For a Lakers team that no one is expecting much from this season, it’s another relevant win against a solid team to put them back at .500, as they continue to wait on the return of Kobe Bryant. The fact that they did it in Howard’s new home should make it that much sweeter, given their current history with the center.
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James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. You can find him on twitter @SheridanBlog.