Recap: Houston Rockets 110, Los Angeles Lakers 112 - 10/26/2010

Long after the rings had been stowed and the banner unveiled, the Lakers kept celebrating.

They started with a rush. And the Rockets answered. They finished fast, and the Rockets closed the gap and took a stunning last-minute lead.

The Lakers, however, did not settle for the core of the championship team, so when the Rockets were rolling, they trotted out their new shooter, Steve Blake, to kick-start the offense. And when the Rockets took their last lead, Blake tossed in one more 3 with 18.8 seconds left and the Lakers hung on for a 112-110 win when the Rockets' final two shots were swatted away in the last seconds.

“We knew it was a tough game when we came in here,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “They're the world champs, and we knew it was going to be tough, but I thought we responded pretty well. About seven minutes, we just didn't play the way we're capable of and they got back in the game.”

The Rockets had led by as much as 15, and still led by six early in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers went on a 12-0 run with Shannon Brown sinking 3s to begin and end the run, taking the Lakers to their first lead since midway through the first quarter along the way.

With the Lakers threatening to pull away, the Rockets offense that had rolled through most of the night bogged down, with the Rockets missing eight-consecutive shots and the Lakers taking a seven-point lead with 2 ½ minutes left.

“They scored a lot in those six, seven minutes,” Scola said. “They hit all those 3s. That was the key to the game. We had to get them under control. They did a really good job in that part of the game with their bench players. They have a lot of players that can play.”

With the Lakers seemingly poised to pull away, Kevin Martin hit a 3, and suddenly the Rockets offense began to click again.

Luis Scola, who scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, began getting loose inside. Aaron Brooks, who had 24 points and nine assists, scored on a quick drive. Yao Ming had already fouled out after 23 minutes, scoring nine points with 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. But with less than a minute left, Brad Miller was fouled on a rebound. His two free throws gave the Rockets a 108-107 lead with 53.9 seconds remaining.

Pau Gasol, who led the Lakers with 29 points and 11 rebounds, hit a jumper to regain the lead, but Scola quickly answered, putting the Rockets in front with 29.5 seconds left.

That would normally be Kobe Bryant's time, and in a way, it was. Bryant had scored 27 points, hitting 8 of 20 shots after a 1 of 5 start. But when he was picked up on a pick-and-roll with Gasol, Brooks had shaded toward the lane, then rushed to the corner, leaving Blake open. Bryant found Blake for a 3-pointer for a two-point Lakers lead with 18.8 seconds left.

“We did some things defensively we talked about not doing, especially on Blake's 3,” Adelman said. “Brown hit some on the run, but you got to get up on people. They're knocking down shots. The two of them went 7-for-7 on 3s in the second half. It's hard to play against that. I thought we could have taken away some of those. Even the last one he took was really our mistake.

“I thought Aaron kind of froze. He really had nothing to do but guard his man. Kobe did a nice job finding the open guy. Gasol rolled and we had him picked up. I just thought (Brooks) froze a little bit and he gave up the shot.”

Still, the Rockets had enough time to get a good shot, going back to Scola inside. Scola began his spin moves, before swinging hard to his right to take aim over Gasol with 2.9 seconds remaining.

“He's just too long,” Scola said. “He tipped it with the tip of his fingers. I almost got it anyway.”

The ball was initially ruled off the Rockets with 2.4 seconds left, but they still were not through. Replay review showed the ball went off Lamar Odom and the Rockets had a last chance.

Certain the Lakers would not let Brooks or Martin go free for a 3-pointer, the Rockets tried to set up Brooks on a backdoor cut. Shane Battier inbounded to Brooks, but he was surrounded under the basket.

“I was a little further in the back than I thought,” Brooks said. “I took a dribble and realized where I was and then I tried to gather and my leg kind of slipped a little bit.”

Odom swatted Brooks' layup as time ran out.

“It was just like we drew it up,” Battier said. “We knew they were going to overplay Aaron and there was a backdoor lay-up attempt. It was a tough pass, but we made the pass and we were probably a foot from completing that play. He stepped out a little wide and I probably led him too much and that was the difference.”

The bigger issue, however, was that when the Rockets offense let up for just a few minutes, the Lakers found a pair of hot-shooting guards off the bench to take advantage.

“It was a good test against a championship-caliber team of where we stand,” said Martin, whose 26 points led the Rockets. “We had some positives and we had some negatives. But all in all, we're still a confident group. This is just step one.”

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