That's fine. I guess I just don't understand NBA foul rules, especially when they're called in such an inconsistent manner. I've seen much less than that get called.

BTW, interesting stat of the game: Brian Scalabrine +22

Allen was outscored by Redick tonight, 12-9. That probably won't happen again.

This will be a weird series. Boston >>>>> Orlando in the backcourt, Orlando >>>>>> Boston in the frontcourt. Celtics are missing an all-star forward and a decent forward, Magic are missing an all-star guard and a decent guard.

+1

Welcome to the club. That would have been a foul in the first 3 quarters. In the final minute of the 4th though, the whistles go in the pocket.

after that game i feel cautiously optimistic about the team going another round - allen won't be outscored by reddick again

Until today I didn't know Courtney Lee was likely to miss the entire series. It's a rough time of year to start asking JJ to play 30 minutes a game.

Houston looking good so far despite Yao playing with jitters early on, like 3 mishandled passes and 2 almost airballs. Still 6/5 early. Would have like Bynum not to get in foul trouble, better matchup for Yao than Gasol who gives him trouble with his quickness.
Artest is unbelievable .. 3 times in 9 minutes he passes up an open shots, makes one dribble to the side and shoots it with a defender in his face by then ...

It's been a nice game for Houston so far but I'm really worried about the first five minutes here in the second half. I think LA is going to come out strong and Houston has to weather that storm or risk losing control of the game quickly.

SI

Bryant´s jump shot on the move is just beautiful. You just can´t defend that, if he´s hitting that he´ll allways get his points. Still, better than have him get to the line or find open people.
Yao misses many easy shots. That spin and dunk away from the double team was great.

Brooks has come up with some pretty and some huge plays

SI

Aw crap

SI

Meh..ugly game by the Lakers, but they still have Kobe

go yao go!

I have yao's points/rebounds over kobe's points in ESPN's streak contest :P

Knee seems ok now ;)

(yeah, not quite but good to see that shot fall)

SI

I went with Kobe but if Yao and the Rockets somehow win this, I'll be just fine :)

SI

Meh...it's disappointing to see the Lakers missing their breaks...back to back missed OOB calls :(

And Yao hitting 22 foot jump shots is not a good recipe

Apparently muggings are ok now that LA needs to get back into the game

SI

Yao is a warrior, flat out competitor. Rockets caught a couple breaks here, Lakers missing wide open threes by Ariza and Fisher. Battier plays terrific defense on Bryant.
And how about a 7´6 guy shooting clutch FTs ?

Good win for the Rockets. Kobe needs to get healthy, but it's gotta be a wakeup call for the Lakers

cue Phil jackson crying about how his team never gets the calls

Good win for the Rockets, the Lakers were too complacent tonight... no hunger.

I hope that the Lakers take this as a wake-up call and start playing up to their talent.

Oh, and Yao can speak good english!

Yao love second round long time

Don't worry, they'll be going to the foul line a ton in Game 2.

:)

+1. If Howard is standing there, sure I understand it, but he moved over and was not set (he gets to the spot only a split second before Pierce, and you have to watch it in slow-mo to see that split-second) and should have been a clear blocking foul.

Of course, that was about the only 20 seconds or so of the game I saw, so I can't comment on officiating the rest of the way.

Great pic from last night's game...



Edit:

OK, this is pretty awesome also... :)

Step one, put a hole in the Hawks.

On my way to C's vs Magic at the Garden!!

Go C's!!

Great start for the Celtics. Rondo is firing up shots again and Perkins is going right at Howard. All with Paul Pierce on the bench with 2 fouls.

Ugh, Pierce with 3 fouls.

Orlando needs a big comeback like Boston nearly had in game one. A split on the road isn't the worst thing in the world anyway.

You're attending the rest of the games, right Sublime? ;)

Where the hell did Rondo get those hops?

he's always had hoppies miami

triple-double for rondo, the 9th+10th points were a CRAZY jam

Hit to the head...Flagrant two right?

Awesome! Eddie House just said FUCK YOU to Alston by hitting a three.

The Big 3 - Rondo-Perkins-House.

there's few things more beautiful then when eddie house is feeling it

Kind of tough to call that when Rondo got away with much worse and didn't get it.

Kobe kinda hits ridiculous shots ...

OK, Lakers got one swing at the Rockets, a good one at that ... 39 point quarter, Kobe and Gasol dominating . Rockets decent offensively, but that cross-matchup at the 3/4 was killing them on fast breaks as well as the fact that they were simply outrun there.
And did i mention Kobe hitting incredible shots ?
Artest a minute ago took like the worst shot in the history of the NBA btw, that was just wow ...

we need to get chuck hayes to the line more, that´s comedy gold :popcorn:

If we can start a "Send Sublime to Orlando" fund, then I suppose I'd tough it out in FL.

That said...EDDIE!!!! He certainly lit a fire under the crowd's ass! I missed what happened with Skip...just saw them standing in each other's grills.

I realize orlando fans will be happy with a split, but I'd be worried that they still haven't seen the Celts rolling (Pierce, Rondo, and Allen all on). The C's are much more like game 2 than game 1, even without KG and Leon.

C's steal game 3, and regain homecourt.

The company men are sure helping out the Lakers tonight. Joke 3rd foul call on Yao.

This Rocket team is fun and resilient as shit. Seriously, taking that blow and coming back from down 15 with Yao a non-factor and the PGs (the other matchup they relied on in game 1) go 1-8 ? 24-9 2nd quarter so far !
The Lakers are still a jump shooting team and now the shots stopped falling in the 2nd.
Look out for Kobe take at least 5 more shots before half time

and i love Artest´s play tonight

btw : Battier is amazing. Yeah, KObe is unstoppable at times tonight. But how he literally gets a hand right in fron of Kobe´s eyes every single time is just unbelievable.

The Lakers look like crap right now.

you didn't read the espn article on battier from a couple months back, hmm? it was basically all about how incredible he is and how underrated

From the C's radio feed on the way home, Alston clocked him upside the head, they were half lobbying for him to be ejected. (here's the slap up side the head, near the end of the video clip)

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290506002

(and apparently JJ Redick said some sweet nothings to the ref, which is why he was tossed AFTER he fouled out)

actually i think it was this NY Times article, though maybe ESPN re-released it : The No-Stats All-Star - NYTimes.com

still many people don´t get that, so i thought i´d mention it ;) Seriously, guys like him can´t get enough articles written about them as far as i am concerned.
As far as i am concerned the guy is hands down the most impressive positional defender (or no-stats defender) in the league.

alston/house GIF :


wow at Kenny Smith throwing a jinx at the Rockets ...

wow at Kobe ...
And the Rockets don´t make an effort to get it inside to Yao at all this quarter. If he´s on the court you have to use him.