Lakers Win Extremely Physical Game Two Over Rockets

Wow! That is the one word that comes to mind after watching that intense game three from last night in Los Angeles. Not because the game was close or that it was won by a last second shot from Kobe Bryant, but because these two teams looked like they wanted to kill each other!

At one point during game two last night I completely forgot they were even playing a playoff basketball game. Bodies were flying, tempers were flaring and players were either getting sent to the locker room by the coach or thrown out by the refs.

We all knew coming into this series that it had the potential to be an extremely physical series due to the history between these two teams and the fact that the Houston Rockets are a defensive minded team. I figured that we would see a Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest showdown like we saw in the regular season, but not a confrontation that was about to go to throwing blows at each other.

Obviously the confrontation between Kobe and Artest didn't get that far, but it was pretty damn close before Ron-Ron got tossed for getting in Kobe's face and looking like he was going repeat his explosion in Detroit from a few years back.

Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant weren't the only players getting crazy in this game, both Derek Fisher and Luis Scola also got into it. Scola had some words with Lamar Odom after a somewhat hard foul from LO, but the two were broken up and that confrontation ended there. No one more than a couple minutes after LO and Scola got heated Derek Fisher landed the hardest pick I have ever seen on Scola which took him off his feet.

The hit on Scola gave Fish a little nick on his head, but it ultimately resulted in a Flagrant 2 and a one game suspension for Fisher.

All the fighting and rough stuff aside, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant showed they have no intentions of getting knocked out early in their championship campaign. At times the Lakers still struggled hitting shots and playing defense, but they definitely had a different kind of intensity in this game two.

Kobe Bryant was the story besides all the dust ups in game two. In game one it took Kobe 30+ shots to get to 30+ points and that is exactly what the Rockets intended. They knew he would get his points, but they wanted to turn him into a jump shooter and limit his penetration. Game two was a completely different game for Kobe as he light up Houston for 40 points on 16 or 27 shooting. Pau Gasol also rebounded from a disappointing game one with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Not only did Kobe score 40, but he did it against the very good defender in Shane Battier. Every shot Kobe put up he had a hand in his face and was well contested. Battier's plan in guarding Kobe was not to block his shot, but to disturb every shot he takes and Battier couldn't have played better defense on Kobe in game two, Kobe was just playing better offense.

As for the Rockets Ron Artest continued to dominate on offense by hitting open shots and scoring on every opportunity he was given. Before he was thrown out because of his confrontation with Kobe, Artest had scored 25 points hitting 4 for 7 from deep and was pretty much scoring at will on the Lakers.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, Kobe ended up being just too much for them to handle once the dust settled and the Lakers went on to win 111-98 and tie up the series at one piece before heading to Houston for game three.

One thing is for certain though going into game three and that is the Rockets are playing much better team basketball right now. They much more efficient on offense and are playing the best defense on the Lakers I have seen this year in my opinion.

The series will only get tougher as the series shifts to Houston without Derek Fisher. If the Lakers expect to advance to the Western Conference finals they will need to do it will solid team play and not depend on Kobe to bail them out every single game.

NEXT LAKERS PLAYOFF GAME: LOS ANGELES LAKERS @ HOUSTON ROCKETS Friday, May 8th 6:30pm PST