Every sports reporter and commentator had the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals as though their semifinal series against the Houston Rockets were a mere formality. A tuneup series to get ready for the Denver Nuggets.
They were even telling one another and their listeners to take the Lakers minus the 8.5, certain Los Angeles would beat the spread. I hope none of you reading this listened to them.
It turned out that it was the Rockets who beat the spread and beat the Lakers convincingly, 100-92.
One of the few sports writers here in Los Angeles who isn’t at all surprised by the Rockets knocking off the high ‘n mighty Lakers is yours truly.
I have been saying all along that this is not a championship team. I have also said that the Lakers would not even retain their Western Conference title. Of course this is just the first game of a seven-game series, but the way the Lakers have played over the last two months of the regular season has been very telling indeed.
Tonight the commentators are chalking the loss up to rust. The six-day layoff, they say, had the Lakers off their game. No, that is not the case.
The last two months have shown me a very fatigued basketball team. Yes, they are physically fatigued, but more importantly they are mentally and emotionally fatigued.
If anything, those six days since the Utah series should have alleviated any physical fatigue that the Lakers may have had. But it was obvious from the start that the mental fatigue still remained.
The Lakers tried to gather themselves after a slow start, but by the end of the first half the Lakers inconsistency was very noticeable. The Rockets were simply outplaying the Western Conference champions.
The score Houston 43 and the Lakers 40 was exactly the same as their respective shooting percentages. Kobe Bryant was just 4 for 12. Pau Gasol shot even worse, just 1 for 6. But it was the Rockets defense and not the rust that was responsible.
The Rockets sprinted out to a nine-point lead to start the second half. The Lakers cut it down to just one point. But minutes later the Rockets stretched it back to nine. The Lakers again cut that lead down to three points with Bryant coming out of his slump. At the end of the third quarter Houston was up 70-67.
The fourth quarter, which has been a problem for the Rockets all year, would demand that Houston find a way to deal with the Lakers’ defense, which was in scramble mode at this point.
The Lakers on the other hand would have to defend against Yao Ming and Ron Artest. After three quarters, they showed very little ability to do so.
Inserting Andrew Bynum into the starting lineup and asking Lamar Odom to come off the bench put a crimp into Odom’s game. He didn’t have the same effect that he had in Round One against Utah when he started the last two games. After three quarters, he had only scored five points and was just 1 for 6 from the foul line.
In the end, it was the Rockets who outplayed the Lakers in that fourth quarter just as they had the entire game and took a 1-0 lead in the series and gained home court advantage.
Enough cannot be said about the Rockets guards Kyle Lowry and Aaron Brooks who would create problems for the Lakers at both ends of the court throughout that final stanza. Rockets head coach Rick Adleman really threw off the Lakers and Phil Jackson by inserting both of his guards, Brooks and Lowry, together for important stretches that saw the Rockets retake the lead midway through the fourth quarter and never look back.
Speaking of mental fatigue, it is not only the Laker players but their head coach Phil Jackson that seems to be tiring at this point. He is simply losing the matchup game. Of course, the once proud Lakers bench has failed him. But he has made his share of blunders. Starting Andrew Bynum, who is just not ready to play for a playoff contender, having Derek Fisher guard a very fast Aaron Brooks, and not solving his rotation problem this deep into the season will leave Jackson again without that elusive tenth NBA title.
Yao Ming, a true warrior, came back from a fourth-quarter knee injury to finish with 28 points and ten rebounds. Ron Artest had 21 points and seven assists and was +19 in his 38 minutes on the floor. Aaron Brooks put up 19 points and was a +11 in his 36 minutes on the floor.
Both Shane Battier and Ron Artest did an excellent job of guarding Kobe Bryant who finished with 32 points but had to take 31 shots to do so. They held Bryant to only 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. Pau Gasol managed to finish with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Andrew Bynum had 10 points but only three rebounds in 13 minutes.
The next game in the semifinal series is Wednesday night at Staples Center. There are probably quite a few Los Angeles sportswriters who would wince if I had told them before that Wednesday night is a must-win game for the Lakers.