Tempers Flare, but Lakers Prevail

Fasten your seatbelts ladies and gentleman, we've got ourselves a series. The Los Angeles Lakers evened things out in Game 2 of the best of seven series, as they defeated the Houston Rockets 111-98 behind Kobe Bryant's 40 points. Pau Gasol added 22 points and 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who have now won 14 of their last 16 playoff games at home. Lamar Odom got the start over Andrew Bynum and played 34 minutes. Jordan Farmar came off the bench and logged in more minutes in Game 2 than he had in the entire postseason, as he was a big part of why the Lakers outscored Houston 20-5  in fast break points. 

After seeing Kobe Bryant shoot poorly in Game 1, I expected him to come out right away and put his imprint in this game. He did that immediately in the first quarter, as he went 7-of-11 from the field and scored 15 points, while Pau shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and finished the quarter with 13 points. I have said time and time again that if I was a head coach, and I had to pick one player to have in a must win game, there is no question it would be Kobe. Knowing the magnitude and potential championship implications this game had, Kobe came out on fire and willed his team to victory. Like he did in Game 4 of the Utah series, Kobe put the Laker team on his back and put on a "Jordanesque" performance

This game was boiled with emotions. There were two ejections, five technical fouls, and one flagrant foul called. Derek Fisher was ejected at the end of the third quarter after getting a flagrant-two foul for throwing an elbow at the head of Luis Scola. Fisher's hit was great for football, but his foul will most certainly result in a suspension of Game 3. Ron Artest was ejected for receiving two technical fouls after getting an elbow to the throat from Kobe. I knew this would be a physical series, but there appears to be bad blood between the two teams. The NBA is reviewing Fish's foul, and I'd be shocked if he wasn't suspended for Game 3. 

It was a great win for the Lakers, but the next two games in Houston will determine the Lake Show's fate in the series. LA has to win at least one of the games to keep their hopes of advancing alive. If they lost both games in Houston, they will lose the series. Game 3 is tomorrow night at 6:30 in Houston.