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.

Rondo grabbed Hinrich and threw him against the announcers table and got a Flagarant 1, I'm interested to see what happens with Alston.

Alston is not on the Celtics so he will be suspended for 1 game.

The Lakers can be a tough team if they want to, like today, but they often revert to being a finesse team... like today...

BOOM!

Derek Fisher is a rock.

Fisher should be ejected from the game and suspended for the rest of the series. There is no place in the game for that dirtiness. Fisher has sucked this series and he should not be allowed to take out his frustrations without consequence just because he's on the Lakers.

Fisher just put a football tackle on Scola and is ejected. Terribly dumb move on his move ... Seriously, you are up 11 and do sth like that ?

I think he should get a 1 game suspension but he plays for the Lakers so fat chance of that happening.

Harsh ejection on Fisher, that should be a flagrant 1. This is the playoffs.

yeah, but it´s not the NFL playoffs ...;)

You didn't watch the Lakers-Jazz series, did you?

It is just unexcusable that a NBA point guard can´t make an entry pass ... :banghead:

how is it that every Houston guard gets either injured, incompetent or retarted within a season ? the last directed at Von Wafer ...

Bye bye Ron Ron.

Man, I don't care what league or time of the season it is, that was a completely stupid and unnecessary move by Fisher. He was looking right at Scola and just leaped in to him, what did he expect to happen? If he had at least not been looking at him when he jumped backwards, maybe it's just a personal foul, but come on... He deserves AT LEAST an ejection just for the utter stupidity of it.

Joey Crawford is a company man. Kobe gets away with an elbow in the face and Artest gets ejected for it. The refs are ruining this series.

referees whistling everything on both sides, that´s just terrible on both ends. Seriously ...

How much do we bet the league doesn't play it fair? They did suspend Howard for the same thing. Maybe they can put a clause in the rules that gives you a pass if you are a star in a major TV market.

Derek Fisher should join a strong man competition and Scola must be made of paper. You'd think he got shot with a cannon they way he goes flying.

Was that Ron's second technical? Why was he tossed?

Watch Artest get suspended for game 3 while Fisher gets nothing. And Kobe gets away with murder, his second felony in the last 5 years.

Scola was leaning backwards when he got collected right in the chest by Fisher. He didn't go flying backwards, he basically just toppled over backwards in the spot directly behind him.

There's a big difference between fouling someone on a play and just smacking someone after a play is over.

Ah, the fans are certainly coming out.

While I agree that Fisher deserved to be ejected, that was nothing compared to what happened back in the "glory days" of the NBA as so many like to talk about.

Three players and only one has a criminal record...

LOL at Yao knocking out his teammate.

How many white girls has Artest raped?

5?

I don't know.

Now we have a series :)

3?

Bastard :)

If the dick don't fit, you must acquit!

We had Artest in Chicago. There are some fucking weird stories about him. One is that he applied at a Circuit City to get employee discounts. When the Bulls traded him he grabbed a huge picture off the wall of him from the Bulls complex and took it home.

For a point of reference on the Fisher foul. This was very similar and from the playoffs 3 years ago. Posey was suspended for Game 4.

should do that more often. Like at least every 3rd time he doesn´t get the ball with perfect position...

Brooks is not a nba staring level PG. Seriously, if you can´t pass the ball with a man on you, where´s the point ?

I have no fucking idea why the Rockets don't go to Yao every trip down the floor. He's such a huge mismatch for other teams.

Why was Artest thrown out? Was that his second technical?

Not sure why it's considered a big deal if Fisher is out for the game. Farmar should be playing more on Brooks.

Artest brought his finger across his throat

Is that worse than getting elbowed in the throat? I can understand a technical for getting in his face, but don't see why it's worth of an ejection.

Fisher should be suspended for a game. Kobe's elbow was just a foul and Artest should have only gotten a technical. And I am a Lakers fan.

There was some report out a while ago that the NBA was trying to cut back on the gang/violence/thug stuff. The finger across the throat thing was considered kind of the trademark of that kind of stuff.

I can only assume it's over-coaching.

"Ok guys, we're going to take the ball upcourt and run this play..." etc. Plays that only have Yao as a 2nd or 3rd option.

In reality what they should be saying is "Take the ball up court, pass to the wing, who then feeds Yao, everyone clear out and wait for the open kick-out from Yao if he can't score".

Agreed

They are also trying to cut back on elbows to the head area which is why they suspended Dwight Howard. Why do I have a feeling we won't see Kobe suspended?

Kobe won't get suspended because there was no clear wind-up and intent. He might have wanted to deliver that elbow, but it was during a play wherein both Kobe and Artest were fighting for position.

Howard's elbow came after the play and there was a clear wind-up to the swing.

You are as biased against the Lakers and any fan is for them. Kobe's elbow was a foul, but was clearly not worth being suspended.

Just because i don´t want to be just blaming the Refs : To be totally clear, the Lakers were the far better team tonight, highly deserving win for them. Played Yao as good as you can, although i still think that he can be effective if his guards would/could pass the ball. Even tonight he had Gasol pinned on his back within 10-12 feet at least a dozen times ... Plus : Why the hell didn´t they run that Pick and Pop play again that was pretty effective in game 1 ? The guy can pretty consistently hit a good percentage from 18-20 foot, too.
Lakers also got out on the break aggressively (again with help from Houston though, lots of TOs).

But the thing that´s encouraging for the Rockets : They didn´t get much from their role players again. Kobe won´t shoot 16-27 every game when he´s basically shooting long jumpers off the dribble against great defense.
That was one of the better shooting games i´ve seen in the last couple years, he really has a beautiful stroke from 20 feet.

for the controversial things :

Fisher was the right call imo. Heck, Scola didn´t even flop (never saw it) and flew down like shit

Artest : Dunno about it, but if he did that signature than it´s fine with me.

And Von Wafer just cost himself a lot of money. He´s found a unique situation with a team that takes any scoring it can get, nowhere will he be more than an 10th man and there´s better guys for that in terms of style of play. And then he can´t keep his mouth shut ?
Perhaps over-motivated going against his first team ?


btw :

YouTube - Air Rondo (slo-mo version also)

That´s like the hardest uncontested dunk i´ve seen in a while. Almost a pittyx that he wasn´t challenged :eek:

I have money on the Lakers and the Cavs to make the finals. I have no bias. I just like watching how the WWE/NBA does its thing.

Ok, I'm browsing through the NBA.com videos, they have a locker room interview of Ron Artest after tonight's game...

WTF is Ron Artest talking about... someone from his old neighborhood, playing ball, removing a chair leg, sticking it through someone's heart...

Wow.

One more thing and again it´s homerism towards Battier : That´s one tough dude, physichally as well as mentally. Bryant put a total beating on him, taunted him on like every made shot the 2nd half and Battier just continues to do his thing and contest the next shot. And the next.
And will continue to do so in Game 3. And 4. And so on.

And is it just me or is Kobe still a little arrogant punk inside ? Sorry, but taunting Battier ? It´s not like he´s provoking it in any way on or off the court, on the contrary he respects Bryant and his game a whole lot and says so in every interview. Heck, the guy propably has a 100 page booklet on Bryant in his bag everywhere he goes theese days.

@ Neon_Chaos : You are surprised by that ? Come on, he´s Ron "Crazy Pills" Artest ;)

Kobe is very arrogant. It's part of what makes him such a great player. Still, if he wasn't on my favorite team, I would not root for him.