Lakers contain Yao, break Rockets home win streak

March 12, 12:08 AMAsian-American Sports ExaminerMichael Street

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Not even the Great Wall of China could stop
Kobe Bryant tonight (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

There's nothing to stop momentum like running into one of the league's best teams, and that's what happened tonight when the Lakers came back from an 11-point halftime deficit to down the Rockets, 102-96.

Yao Ming and Houston had done a nice job of asserting themselves in the second quarter, but fell apart in the second half, so that not even a late push could carry them over Kobe Bryant and Los Angeles.

Houston seemed to find itself in the second quarter, outhustling the Lakers and running the offense smoothly through the low post. They took an 11-point lead by halftime, but once the third quarter began, they looked lost again, and turned into a jump-shooting team instead.

Some of this was because of Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant, who battled most of the game. Both are tough defenders and they scrapped plenty, culminating in a double-technical in the fourth quarter over a pushing match that nearly emptied both benches.

In the end, Bryant got the better of things, as he usually does. NBA players can turn the game into an ego contest, and for several minutes, Artest tried to match Kobe at the offensive end, instead of remaining within the offense.

In the two-minute span following that double-technical, Artest took three of Houston's five shots, missing all of them; he also lost the ball to Kobe on another possession. Artest would finish with 11 points on 4-16 shooting, his worst shooting performance in over a month.

He wasn't the reason that the Rockets lost their focus, but it's significant that Yao and Luis Scola, the two low-post performers for Houston, only scored nine points in the second half, with seven of them coming in the first five minutes of the third quarter.

The difference was all the more striking because they'd scored a combined 22 points in the first half. Yao was 6-6 from the floor in the first two frames, while Scola was 5-5. In the second half, Yao went 1-2 and Scola went 2-4.

But even when he's not shooting, Yao can be part of the offense, drawing double-teams and kicking the ball out, but Artest's stubborn iso game prevented that from happening.

There were some bright spots to the game for Houston, like 36 bench points, including 20 from Von Wafer and 10 from Carl Landry. New acquisition Kyle Lowry put up 26 solid minutes, scoring 6 but collecting 5 assists. Scola nearly got a double-double with 15 points and 9 rebounds.

And Yao's 16 points and 6 rebounds were augmented by 2 assists and 2 blocks; it was his 14th straight game with at least one block, and fifth straight game with at least two. He's a force at both ends of the floor, but only when the team involves him.

Artest is definitely an asset to the team at both ends, too, but he's no Tracy McGrady—he's not the kind of player who can put the team on his back and carry them with hot shooting. He hits open looks and can create in the flow of the offense, but Rick Adelman needs to sit him down and tell him to put the team before his ego.

Yao is one of the best stars in the league at putting his team before himself, and it's one of the greatest asset he brings to the floor. Hopefully some of that will rub off on Artest.

Houston has a softer game coming up when they visit Charlotte, but they'll come back home to play the Spurs, then visit New Orleans before returning home to face Detroit. All of those teams will present different challenges, but Houston will have to meet them as a team, not as five individuals.

Keep reading the Asian-American Sports Examiner to see how those games turn out!