Official Game 2: 05/06 Houston Rockets @ Los Angeles Lakers 7:30PM PST TNT

[bijald0331]

ariza is not a good shooter. bill simmons had a good point about how ariza gets so many open 3's yet only made 32%. kobe usually takes on the bestperimeter player??? ariza then gets the 2nd? i am wrong here?

 

[fro b giant]

Originally Posted by franchise3

I couldn't post unti now because I hit the post limit during half time. SMH.

Here are my thoughts:

- DFish should, and will get suspended. People want to compare the Rondo situations, but here's where I stand. Against Brad Miller, he's going to the basket on a potential game tying bucket I believe it was. Rondo is way shorter than Brad, and while he got his head, it was still within the game, ie, going out to foul the dude. I dunno if you can say for sure if he intended to knock him upside the head or not, and that's why you couldn't suspend the dude. He went and fouled him. The Hinrich thing, they tussled and Hinrich got thrown into the table. It's not like Rondo went up, grabbed him and threw him. They were tangled up and it happened. Ehhh. Fast forward to tonight, out of a timeout, Fish clearly sees Scola coming over for the pick. Dude lowers his shoulder and gives it all he's got. Cut that he didn't go for the head nonsense. Scola has like 6 inches on the dude. Of course DFish didn't go for the head. What DFish did was dirty. And like we saw, pre meditated. He wasn't fighting through no pick. He wanted and did, lay a shot on Scola. What Fish did is equivalent to throwing an elbow, and he will pay the price.

- So, what led to this? Lamar, even though he's been ghost for 2 games now, he decided to get animated. In the 2nd quarter or 3rd quarter, he blocks Scola's shot and gets in Scola's face. Scola doesn't say anything. LO keeps yapping. So, Artest comes to hold Scola back so he doesn't get into it. Then you have LO driving to the basket and Scola fouls him. Routine stop the person from an easy basket foul. In the process, he grazes Lamar's face. Of course LO gets hyped and starts talking. Then you have Luke Walton out of all people getting hyped and starts running his gums. Scola confronts him. DFish corrals Walton, and on the next possesion, delivers that cheap shot.

- Kobe and Ron. Don't give me that Ron was holding onto Kobe, and he fouled Kobe before Kobe elbowed him. The whistle was blown once Kobe got the REBOUND. They didn't call the foul while they were under the basket. Clearly, it was foul on Kobe. A missed call. Kobe threw an elbow at Ron's neck. Ron confronts Kobe and gets T'd up. Rightfully so. People are overreacting to what Ron did to get ejected though. He didn't make no throat slashing gesture. He was doing what he was doing once the whistle was blown. Pleading his case motioning how Kobe elbowed him. It wasn't no 'threat' to Kobe. Because of Ron's past history, they ejected him. I don't think he should have. T'd up, sure.

- Kobe Bryant. I like how people like to talk about Kobe lighting up Shane, and whatnot. Believe it or not, outside of when he plays the Rockets, I actually appreciates dude's game. I tip my hat to Kobe tonight. Dude was lights out. He wouldn't let the Lakers lose tonight. But there's a lot of things that I think are overlooked. The shooting woes of game 1 by him, coupled by the continued talk of Shane and Ron's d, coupled by the announcing of them being on the all defensive team, coupled with it being a must win game for the Lakers, dude showed up big time tonight and took over. Props. BUT, as a Lakers fan, sure, you can say Kobe can drop 40 any night, but the Lakers are in big trouble if it's going to take THAT in order for the Lakers to win this series/the rest of the way onto the Finals. As we saw, the Rockets played him tough, and he was spending a lot of energy. If it takes Kobe Bryant scoring 40 every game in order for the Lakers to win this series, then hey, kudos Kobe. I mean, it's gonna be a question of whether or not his j is gonna be wet, since he's content jumpshooting. He had only like 4 FT's midway in the 4th..

- If you're a Lakers fan you have to be troubled by everybody's play, not named Kobe Bryant. Gasol and Odom are getting beat on the glass, missing FT's and are really non factors. Ditto that for almost everybody else. And if its not evidenced by now, Andruw Bynum will be a non factor this series. He wasn't last series, hasn't been this series, got demoted to the bench, and ended up playing like 8 mins. If Phil isn't going to use him against Yao, or try to exploit Bynum against Hayes and Landry, then he's useless.

- Pau is doing a good job on Yao playing off Yao, making it look like you can get the entry pass in, and then going in and trying to poke it away when it does come in. That and fronting him. When it's like this, the Rockets end up using too much shot clock seeing whether they can get it in, and if they can't, have to hurry up and put up a bad shot. That's why Hayes and Landry were effective. You don't look for these guys for offense. That's why the Rockets were better in the 2nd quarter. The offense flowed better. Yao needs to step it up, as, he's a big part on whether or not the Rockets are succesful.

- Second unit was the brightest spots for the Rockets tonight. Landry finally came alive, and did his best Leon Powe impersenation. Lakers couldn't keep the guy off the glass.

- Aaron Brooks and Lowry have to play better. Especially Brooks. Hopefully, the whole Von Wafer thing is a non issue going forward, as, he's instant offense off the bench, as we saw.

In conclusion, I like the Rockets chances going forward. Yao didn't get going, Kobe was lights out, and the Rockets were still in the game. As we see, its gonna be a hard fought series. This really could go the distance. Bottomline, the Rockets win all their games in Houston, they advance.

Dfish will get suspended.

That is exactly what happened and Scola still needed to get laid out

Ron shouldn't have gotten ejected but I don't agree that he wasn't motioning that Kobe was getting the axe. I think he knew what he was doing, andif not be smart and know you might get called for that.

Wrong about the boards, Pau and Lamar combined for 25 boards, more than the whole Rockets starting lineup & more than any two Rockets players.

We don't need Bynum to win in this series.



That's all goodnight.

 

[burns1923]

Originally Posted by Craftsy21

Of course Jordan talked trash but not anywhere near on the obnoxious level Kobe does. Payton talked more than both of them combined. The point is HOW Kobe's doing it and WHY. Jordan talked when he felt it necessary within the game. Kobe's trash talking is about drawing attention to himself. Jordan never had to draw attention to himself by talking trash.

This is such crap - you have no proof of this, it's just how you're interpreting it because Kobe isn't your boy like MJ was and I think your post makes that obvious.

If anything, Kobe talks because he wants to be like his idol, MJ. Because that's how he learned to play watching MJ. When does Kobe ever do things outside of his trash talking on the court where you feel like he's trying to draw attention to himself? You guys act like he's out there whoring himself out to every sponsor that comes along like Lebron is - dude is a hermit. He keeps to himself almost all the time.

There are so many unsubstantiated claims in this stuff - like people are trying to find new ways to justify their hatred for Kobe. Just come out and say it - you don't like the guy. That's all you have to say, quit searching for reasons AFTER that fact to back it up, if you don't like him then you don't like him.



No proof of what?

It's quite simple, actually. I watched virtually everything MJ did from 1988 to 1998. I know how Kobe came into the league and any basketball fan whofollows the NBA with any regularity has seen his career progression.

I'm not talking about being inside Kobe's head. He has displayed a proven track record of mimicking Jordan - from speech patterns to fist pumps, fromvoice tone to trash talking. Now, if you want to deny these links that have been apparent for the last 13 years, that's all on you.

Also, I never said Kobe's trash talking was about garnering endorsements or anything off the court. Kobe on the court is all about Kobe, and that includeshis trash talking. He believes he's the unquestioned best player in the world and lets people know it. His career achievements will never matchJordan's (gasp!) and yet he carries himself as though he's attained Jordan's status. That's why his "He can't guard me" aboutBattier is embarrassingly laughable. Not only did Jordan make that his own, people believed him. Kobe just comes off as a poser.

It's tough to say this but I know it's the right thing to do:

Kobe will never touch Michael Jordan, in any way. And the more he tries to emulate Jordan, the more ridiculous he looks, the less people take him seriously,and the more people dislike him.

Jordan, arrogant or not, was genuine. Kobe is a very talented unoriginal. That's the fact, jack.

 

[solefob]

Originally Posted by franchise3

With Ron Artest, it's like, 'no, no, no, YES!' when he hoists up shots. His shot selection isn't all that great, but, its a great sign that he's been money shooting the rock the first two games. On the road nonetheless. As long as they keep going in, we'll take it.

Either way, Ariza on Artest is not working. Ron is having his way with dude. And because Ariza is mainly a fast break player, or a dude who hoists up 3's, even though he's not that good at it, the Rockets are putting Scola of all people on dude.

Big time advantage in this matchup for Houston going forward.

I agree with you but I do believe Phil will find a way to exploit Scola on defense somehow or make him ineffective.
Artest has been playing out of his mind but I can't see him making all those jumpers, even at home. I believe now the only way for the Rockets to winwould be to get a normal Yao performance along with an efficient Artest shooting night, a good performance by Brooks along with Landry doing what he didtonight. You also have to have Battier slow down Kobe. its just asking a lot.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

first off...hell of a game...houston came back...good game by them...smh at us for blowing another lead again!!...with that said i just wanna thank ron artestfor getting in kobes face...now you got kobe something to be fired about and you got him interested in this series

 

[bijald0331]

"now you got kobe something to be fired about and you got him interested in this series"

right like he didn't care enough already since his legacy is dependent opon him winning another championship.

 

[franchise3]

The Kobe elbow isn't that serious. He won't get suspended.

But that was a blown call.

Kobe elbowed dude to get the rebounded.

The refs didn't call the foul on Ron because of what he was doing, where his hand was. Seriously? You think the refs saw that but NOT the elbow by Kobe?

It was more both of them getting position, Kobe gets the rebound by elbowing, but, from the refs angle, with Kobe's arm flailing, it looks like Ron pushesoff.

Again, blown call. Not that it mattered though.

 

[fro b giant]

Originally Posted by franchise3

With Ron Artest, it's like, 'no, no, no, YES!' when he hoists up shots. His shot selection isn't all that great, but, its a great sign that he's been money shooting the rock the first two games. On the road nonetheless. As long as they keep going in, we'll take it.

Either way, Ariza on Artest is not working. Ron is having his way with dude. And because Ariza is mainly a fast break player, or a dude who hoists up 3's, even though he's not that good at it, the Rockets are putting Scola of all people on dude.

Big time advantage in this matchup for Houston going forward.

Uh wow you are not on your game tonight, Ariza for the post season is 50% beyond the arc and Artest is only 31%

 

[gescobe]

See yall in Game 3 thread........

 

[statis22]

When Artest plays within the offense he can be effective. Its just when he goes on his rampages and shoots the team out of the game when the bad Ron shows up.Tonight we got good Ron up until the Kobe non basketball elbow.

If this is the way the Lakers have to play to beat the Rockets then I like the Rockets chances going forward

 

[knightngale]

- Kobe and Ron. Don't give me that Ron was holding onto Kobe, and he fouled Kobe before Kobe elbowed him. The whistle was blown once Kobe got the REBOUND. They didn't call the foul while they were under the basket. Clearly, it was foul on Kobe. A missed call. Kobe threw an elbow at Ron's neck. Ron confronts Kobe and gets T'd up. Rightfully so. People are overreacting to what Ron did to get ejected though. He didn't make no throat slashing gesture. He was doing what he was doing once the whistle was blown. Pleading his case motioning how Kobe elbowed him. It wasn't no 'threat' to Kobe. Because of Ron's past history, they ejected him. I don't think he should have. T'd up, sure.


It doesn't even look like the elbow was to the neck. Looks like Kobe elbowed him on the chest. Artest would have been shaken a bit if he had been elbowedlike that on the neck. He acted like he was not hit on the neck because he probably was not.

- Kobe Bryant. I like how people like to talk about Kobe lighting up Shane, and whatnot. Believe it or not, outside of when he plays the Rockets, I actually appreciates dude's game. I tip my hat to Kobe tonight. Dude was lights out. He wouldn't let the Lakers lose tonight. But there's a lot of things that I think are overlooked. The shooting woes of game 1 by him, coupled by the continued talk of Shane and Ron's d, coupled by the announcing of them being on the all defensive team, coupled with it being a must win game for the Lakers, dude showed up big time tonight and took over. Props. BUT, as a Lakers fan, sure, you can say Kobe can drop 40 any night, but the Lakers are in big trouble if it's going to take THAT in order for the Lakers to win this series/the rest of the way onto the Finals. As we saw, the Rockets played him tough, and he was spending a lot of energy. If it takes Kobe Bryant scoring 40 every game in order for the Lakers to win this series, then hey, kudos Kobe. I mean, it's gonna be a question of whether or not his j is gonna be wet, since he's content jumpshooting. He had only like 4 FT's midway in the 4th..


Kobe has done it before and has also shot the team out of the game so who knows what will happen. The same thing goes for houston too. Will Artest keepshooting like he is reggie miller for the rest of the series? same goes for the rest of the rockets scrubs making every shot they take oher than the 4thquarter of tonight's game.

The Rockets have the advantage right now and if they don't win the series it means they simply choked unless kobe keeps shooting the lights out.

 

[wallyhopp]

Originally Posted by Burns1923

Originally Posted by Craftsy21

Of course Jordan talked trash but not anywhere near on the obnoxious level Kobe does. Payton talked more than both of them combined. The point is HOW Kobe's doing it and WHY. Jordan talked when he felt it necessary within the game. Kobe's trash talking is about drawing attention to himself. Jordan never had to draw attention to himself by talking trash.

This is such crap - you have no proof of this, it's just how you're interpreting it because Kobe isn't your boy like MJ was and I think your post makes that obvious.

If anything, Kobe talks because he wants to be like his idol, MJ. Because that's how he learned to play watching MJ. When does Kobe ever do things outside of his trash talking on the court where you feel like he's trying to draw attention to himself? You guys act like he's out there whoring himself out to every sponsor that comes along like Lebron is - dude is a hermit. He keeps to himself almost all the time.

There are so many unsubstantiated claims in this stuff - like people are trying to find new ways to justify their hatred for Kobe. Just come out and say it - you don't like the guy. That's all you have to say, quit searching for reasons AFTER that fact to back it up, if you don't like him then you don't like him.

No proof of what?

It's quite simple, actually. I watched virtually everything MJ did from 1988 to 1998. I know how Kobe came into the league and any basketball fan who follows the NBA with any regularity has seen his career progression.

I'm not talking about being inside Kobe's head. He has displayed a proven track record of mimicking Jordan - from speech patterns to fist pumps, from voice tone to trash talking. Now, if you want to deny these links that have been apparent for the last 13 years, that's all on you.

Also, I never said Kobe's trash talking was about garnering endorsements or anything off the court. Kobe on the court is all about Kobe, and that includes his trash talking. He believes he's the unquestioned best player in the world and lets people know it. His career achievements will never match Jordan's (gasp!) and yet he carries himself as though he's attained Jordan's status. That's why his "He can't guard me" about Battier is embarrassingly laughable. Not only did Jordan make that his own, people believed him. Kobe just comes off as a poser.

It's tough to say this but I know it's the right thing to do:

Kobe will never touch Michael Jordan, in any way. And the more he tries to emulate Jordan, the more ridiculous he looks, the less people take him seriously, and the more people dislike him.

Jordan, arrogant or not, was genuine. Kobe is a very talented unoriginal. That's the fact, jack.

i guess theres no winning for kobe because in this instance, MJ appeared poised to just win games straight up and retelliated or showed up the trash talkingonce it began.. Kobe on the other hand instigates with his mannerisms.. the kobe mentality is definetly there that you touched on.

check this mj footage out:

-straight up balling until barkley did a bit of talking later into the footage.. A kobe would begun talking right away no matter who it is. We all harp on kobewhen he's TOO close to emulating MJ but when he defines himself in this instance, we "hate" on him still.

the question is, is kobe getting trash talked to him constantly that he has to show people up deservingly from the get go? or does he bring it on himself?

 

[fro b giant]

Originally Posted by bijald0331

ariza is not a good shooter. bill simmons had a good point about how ariza gets so many open 3's yet only made 32%. kobe usually takes on the best perimeter player??? ariza then gets the 2nd? i am wrong here?

You read a non biased piece from Bill Simmons about the Lakers did you???

I was unaware that there was such a thing.

 

[goukiteg]

At first I thought Kobe really threw the elbow, but from that angle, it looks like Kobe was trying to get Artest from hanging onto his back.

 

[bijald0331]

how can you say that ariza is a good 3 point shooter by just taking a 5 game sample?? he only shot 32% from the field in the regular reason...have you heard ofthe field of statistics. anybody can get hot...

 

[chitown4eva]

Kobe will never touch Michael Jordan, in any way. And the more he tries to emulate Jordan, the more ridiculous he looks, the less people take him seriously, and the more people dislike him.

Jordan, arrogant or not, was genuine. Kobe is a very talented unoriginal. That's the fact, jack.

 

[got shoes]

Originally Posted by Kookcle

Posting for
[h2]got shoes[/h2] [h2]

[/h2]

goodlooking my dude 50 post count FTL!!!.... the elbow wasn't that serious. ron acted like his forearm wasnt on Kobe's head and neck.

 

[franchise3]

LO and Pau did get boards, hey at least they were useful in that dept. But Lakers fans know they're better when its a group effort. For 2 games now, itsbeen all Kobe. Game 1 he was off they lose. Game 2 he was on, and they won. Its gonna be like this the rest of the way? As a Rockets fan, I hope so. I can livewith Kobe takinf 30+ shots, and if he beats you, he beats you. Tip your hat, better luck next year.

Also, I like how you said Scola needed to get laid out. Dude didn't say anything to LO after LO talked junk after the block, and wasn't really sayinganything to LO after the foul. He did talk mess to Luke though.

But here we are, the whole game LO and Kobe talking after every shot. I mean, yeah, you lit us up, but what was you doing game 1? We'll see if you can drop40 in Houston.

(In before he nearly dropped 40 in Houston in the regular season. Like we see now, the regular season means nothing)

 

[statis22]

Originally Posted by Fro B Giant

Originally Posted by franchise3

With Ron Artest, it's like, 'no, no, no, YES!' when he hoists up shots. His shot selection isn't all that great, but, its a great sign that he's been money shooting the rock the first two games. On the road nonetheless. As long as they keep going in, we'll take it.

Either way, Ariza on Artest is not working. Ron is having his way with dude. And because Ariza is mainly a fast break player, or a dude who hoists up 3's, even though he's not that good at it, the Rockets are putting Scola of all people on dude.

Big time advantage in this matchup for Houston going forward.

Uh wow you are not on your game tonight, Ariza for the post season is 50% beyond the arc and Artest is only 31%

But this series he's been terrible and they are not respecting his jumper by putting Scola on him who is playing off of him. In essence just being anotherbody to clog up the paint on Kobe drives.

 

[lilfeet47]

I missed part of the game cuz i was watching lost. Can somebody tell me what Von Wafer did?

 

[holdenmichael]

It was more both of them getting position, Kobe gets the rebound by elbowing, but, from the refs angle, with Kobe's arm flailing, it looks like Ron pushes off.


Watch that part of the game again. Ron is talking to the ref' and the ref' says, "you had your arm on him" or something like that. Itwasn't a push in the back they thought they were calling. Kobe can't jump for a rebound if the opposing player has him pinned down with his arm/elbow.That's a foul.

 

[kal ripped ken]

from that gif it looks like he gets hit in the chest not the neck...just sayin

 

[enrique23]

Originally Posted by xsalvioutlawx

BTW, I believe DJ Mbenga would kill Artest in real life. Dude is raw and that's definetly the last person to F with in the NBA because he has nothing to lose.

qft

 

[bgetsbusy]

Gonna be a good series

@ Fisher floorin Scola

 

[statis22]

But its nice to see Carl Landry back in the party. Odom can't guard anybody on the floor but Chuck Hayes and even he had a bucket lol