Wednesday October 27, 2010 5:01 AM

Rockets Lose LA Heartbreaker

Lakers rally, hold on for 112-110 victory over Houston on opening night

Jason Friedman 
Senior Writer - Rockets.com

LOS ANGELES - The storyline is agonizingly familiar by now: The Rockets give the Lakers all they can handle for 48 minutes (or more), only to ultimately see victory slip through their grasp in the end. Just for good measure, Los Angeles typically manages to ensure the experience is as excruciating as possible. And when the final buzzer sounds, the Rockets are left shaking their heads, muttering to themselves about what might have been.

To be sure, that’s not always how the script unfolds when these two teams meet. Few fans will soon forget the Rockets giving the Lakers all they could handle in the ’09 playoffs. But when the games are tight and go down to the wire, LA seems to find a way to emerge victorious more often than not. And much to the Rockets’ chagrin, such was the case Tuesday night, when Houston opened the regular season with a heartbreaking 112-110 loss to LA on an evening when the Lakers collected their championship rings and unveiled a new banner while celebrating the franchise’s 16th NBA title.

For so much of the contest, the Rockets not only held their own – they looked downright superior. Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin were simply sublime on the offensive end, lighting up the Lakers early and often as the Rockets raced out to a 15-point first half lead, before finishing with an even 50 points between them on the night. The dynamic duo stroked it from downtown (7-of-12 from deep), shot a perfect 13-for-13 from the line and moved the ball splendidly – save for one fateful stretch which will be addressed shortly – while flashing their potential to become, if they’re not already, one of the most explosive backcourts in the NBA.

Speaking of strong combos, Yao Ming and Brad Miller teamed up to fortify the Rockets’ center position, pairing for combined totals of 18 points, 20 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

And then there was Luis Scola, doing what he always does: bringing copious amounts of passion, energy and hustle to the game, while summoning all he has in an effort to will his team to victory. Even on a night when he struggled to find his offense until the fourth quarter, Scola still managed to produce an eye-popping line of 18 points and 16 rebounds.

In other words, the Rockets did so many things well and had so many strong performances on a night when they were largely an afterthought to the assembled fans and media on hand to witness the Lakers’ coronation. They came out of the gate strong, seized the moment and put LA back on its heels.

What they did not do, however, proved to be their downfall. Houston had no answer for Pau Gasol and he subsequently torched them for 29 points and 11 rebounds. Second-half defensive breakdowns led to too many fouls and a bevy of open looks for LA’s Shannon Brown and Steve Blake, and LA’s surprise heroes obliged by knocking down all 7 of the 3-pointers they attempted in the final two quarters of play. And then, of course, there was the aforementioned second-half lull during which the offense grew stagnant, the ball movement ground to a halt, turnovers spiked and the Rockets’ double-digit lead rapidly dissipated.

Against teams like the Lakers, the margin for error is razor thin. 40 minutes of near perfection can be undone faster than a Hollywood marriage. This isn’t a newsflash, of course. The Rockets have learned this lesson at the hands of LA before. And unfortunate though it may be to be forced to sit through yet another agonizing tutorial covering the exact same subject matter, Houston can take solace in something else it learned on opening night: The Rockets themselves are pretty darn good. Now it’s just a matter of racking up wins so the standings reflect that reality.

QUOTES

Coach Rick Adelman on Kevin picking up his fourth foul and the team getting out of rhythm:

“No I don’t think it was so much him, it’s just we just stopped moving the ball. But we still had ten, eleven point lead with I don’t know how much time, four minutes to go. They made shots and we got very stagnant. At seven minutes where we didn’t play that way, then we picked it up and came back after the fourth quarter. We got to sustain it, we can’t get…we just get really stagnant out there… we really did. And we stopped defending them. We gave up open looks at threes that we should not have given up…”

Coach Rick Adelman’s opinion on best offensive option:
“It’s going to be Aaron or Kevin. With those two guys on the floor we did some really good things. In the last three minutes we got to the middle of the court, we found open shooters. We at least got a lot of points because the way we spaced it. But that’s something we’re going to keep finding out. We’re going to have to find out where we’re going to score.”

Coach Rick Adelman on an early tough loss this quickly in the season:
“We knew it was a tough game when we came in here. They’re the world champs, and we knew it was going to be tough. But I thought we responded pretty well. Like I said, I think about seven minutes we just didn’t play the way we’re capable of and they got back in the game.”

Coach Rick Adelman on Yao’s performance:

“He did fine, he did fine. His timing has to get better as he goes on. You just have to keep judging as we go”
Rockets center Yao Ming on if he had a lot of shots that he wanted, but they just weren’t falling:

“I’m a not worried about that. Those will take a little bit of time. I feel pretty good out there. I’m running up court, up and back, and I’m helping the team on defense.”

Yao on the opportunity to face Pau Gasol, and how he felt going up against him:

“It’s always tough to play against Pau Gasol at any time. And especially from the last two years, he’s been playing on a great team. It’s great experience for him. I think he’s on a totally different level compared to a couple years ago.”

Yao on the Rockets’ offensive flow becoming stagnant:

“I think turnovers. That would be a big key for us. We had 20 turnovers in the entire game, and that killed our offense on the other side. When running to our defense [the turnovers] didn’t give us enough time to get back.”

Aaron Brooks on what happened on his layup attempt to try and tie it:

“I think that the angle I was at to get the pass [affected it]. I was a little further in the back than I thought. When I caught the ball I didn’t know exactly where I was on the floor. Then I took a dribble and realized where I was, and then I tried to gather and my leg kind of slipped a little bit.”

Brooks on if the game got away from them:

“There was a time when Steve Blake and Shannon Brown came in and hit some big 3’s. We didn’t respond back. Our offense got a little bit stagnant, a little bit on my part. We need to run a little more offensive sets [and] a little more pick-and-rolls.”

Shane Battier on tonight’s game and what the team needs to do:

“It was a really good effort. It’s the same message that we’ve been preaching for two years now — when we push the ball all over, be aggressive early in the shot clock we’re better served.”

Battier on the Brooks’ layup attempt at the end of the game:

“[We did it] just like we drew it up. We knew they were going to overplay Aaron, and [he] was going to have a backdoor layup attempt. It was a tough pass, but we made the pass. We were probably a foot from completing that play.”

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the play of Shannon Brown and Steve Blake:

“We just didn’t seem to find traction until Shannon [Brown] and Steve [Blake] got in the ballgame and changed the contexture of that ballgame. It was a great effort by those two. They gave us a big rally.”

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Pau Gasol’s performance:

“I thought he played really well. Defensively, I thought he did a good job on Yao [Ming]. There was a couple things that he didn’t do late in the ballgame on defensive screen rolls and things that they kind of work at that we had a little trouble with. But he gave us a real nice game.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Pau Gasol’s offensive aggressiveness:

“I thought he had to stay aggressive the first half. We talked about it at the end of the half, he took a couple of opportunities to pass the ball rather than shoot the ball when he had the shot.”

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the difficulties of playing after the ring ceremony:

“I think that the players were emboldened by the ring. I think they were excited about it. So that part of it I thought was good. I just didn’t think we played with the right speed and tempo in the first half. We got a lot of shots, not a lot of them good.”

Lakers’ guard Kobe Bryant on bench down the stretch:
“Shannon Brown came in and did a great job. Steve made a couple of huge 3s for us. Shannon on both ends of the floor was extremely active. We were a deep team last year as well and this year I think you have a little better chemistry in terms of the pieces fitting better together off the better.”

Lakers’ guard Kobe Bryant on playing 37 minutes:
“I told [Phil Jackson] I was ready to go so I knew this morning. I feel good.”

Lakers’ guard Kobe Bryant on Blake’s last shot:
“We executed at the right time. It was something we talked about at the timeout.”

Lakers’ guard Kobe Bryant on the ring ceremony and Derek Fisher:
“It’s always fun when this night comes. You get a chance to enjoy it and tonight were an even more special one because we all introduced each other. You know the bond we share together so for him to bring me out that was special.”

Lakers’ forward Pau Gasol on emotions after the ring ceremony:
“We started off strong, obviously very excited about the game and the ring ceremony, but then we went into a period where we weren’t very sharp. We still have to get a feel for being back in the competition. By the third quarter we finally settled down and understood what we needed to do to make things happen.”

Lakers’ forward Pau Gasol on feeling pressure to score more:
“When you ask me to score, or score more, it’s never going to be a problem. We just need to do a better job defensively, that’s more important than the offense.”

Lakers’ Shannon Brown on Lakers’ bench play tonight:
“That’s what we’re supposed to do coming off the bench…it’s our job to come out there and keep pushing. If the leads up to push it even further, and if we’re down to bring us up.”

Lakers’ Shannon Brown on what brought him back for another season with the Lakers:
“Championships. This ring ceremony is so special—it’s history. It’s something that nobody can ever take away, it’s going to hang in these rafters for as long as basketball is around. It’s a great group of guys, great coaches, I love the Lakers.”

Lakers’ Steve Blake on leaving in a hot shooter:
“All coaches do it. If you got it going they leave you in there. Try to get it going, try to be consistent and hit shots.

Lakers’ Steve Blake on the Lakers’ second unit:
“Just play basketball. Defensively try to get our hands active. Shannon was able to hit clutch shots. Everyone on the second unit was a true team player. That's the type of game we have to bring every night.

============================译文 by Sun Qun-hu========================================

 

 

 

 

    

洛杉矶-故事情节到现在为止都是让人苦闷的相似，火箭队在场上的48分钟或更多的上场时间里向湖人队使出了他们能够使出的一切，但最终只能看到胜利从他们手中溜走。因为良好的应对方式，洛杉矶成功的让比赛尽可能的达到了极限。终场哨响起的时候，火箭队摇着头离开了，低声抱怨着比赛的结局本该是什么样子的。

 

坦白的说，两队相遇时，答卷并不总是这样收起的。很少有球迷会很快忘记在09赛季的季后赛中火箭给湖人造成的麻烦。但是当比赛白热化起来快要到结束的时候，湖人队好像总是能够找到取胜的方式而不是输掉。让火箭队非常苦闷的是，这就是今晚比赛的现实：在湖人队收获他们上个赛季总冠军戒指、揭开新的冠军旗帜以庆祝他们的第16个总冠军之时，火箭队以令人心痛的112-110的比分输掉了他们开始常规赛的第一场比赛。

 

对这场比赛的绝大多数时间来说，火箭队不仅仅是抵抗住了湖人的进攻，他们看起来好像更为强大。阿兰布鲁克斯和凯文马丁在进攻端简直是让人敬佩的，他们在比赛开始就照亮了湖人队，在半场结束时火箭队15分领先，整个晚上二人联手贡献了50分。这对成功的家伙在三分线外12投7中，罚球13罚13中，极其漂亮的运转了球，为接下来开始的新赛季留足了期待。同时他们也完美的展示着他们的潜能，如果现在还不是的话，那么也即将成为新赛季NBA中最具爆发力的后场组合。

 

谈到强力组合，姚明和布拉德米勒组成了火箭中场的防御，他们联手拿下18分，20个篮板，并有三次盖帽。

 

接下来便是路易斯斯科拉，他做了他一贯做的事情：为球队带来丰富的激情、能量，加快比赛的节奏，同时贡献出他所拥有的一切以期待球队取得成功。即使在这样一个直到第四节他才努力找到他的节奏的夜晚，他也成功的给出了令人瞠目结舌的(eye-popping)的18分，16个篮板的成绩。

 

换句话说，在一个只是那些疯狂赶到斯台普斯中心来见证湖人加冕的球迷和媒体，而在事后才会想起他们的晚上，火箭队做了如此多的好的事情以及拥有如此多的精彩的表现。强大的他们进入场内，抓住机会，将湖人队甩在了身后。

 

他们没有做好的，最终证明是他们垮台的原因，是休斯顿没有应对保罗加索尔的答案。加索尔用29分11个篮板的成绩击败了他们。下半场防守的松懈导致了太多的失误。以及对湖人队香农布朗和史蒂夫布莱克的一阵忽视，他们通过下半场让人惊讶的7个三分球成为让全队感激的英雄。接下来，当然，还是上面提到的那些原因，下半场的放松以及在此之间进攻的呆滞、运转球的停顿、失误的变多，导致火箭队两位数的领先优势很快就消失了。

 

对阵像湖人这样的球队，对失误的容忍度是相当低的。40分钟的近乎完美的表现也会在比好莱坞婚礼还快的时间内前功尽弃。当然，这不是一两句话能够说清楚的。火箭队以前也从湖人队身上吸取过类似的教训。尽管不幸的是火箭队好像必须面对着去接受一个包含着同样问题的痛苦的旅行，休斯顿依然可以在这个晚上找到聊以自慰的东西：火箭队本身是相当好的。现在事关紧要的是赢取更多的胜利，让我们的排名名副其实。