Houston Rockets beat Los Angeles Lakers 125-112 at home: NBA Recap
Houston Rockets downed the Los Angeles Lakers 125-112 here at the Toyota Center on Tuesday night. Though overcoming slow starts has been a problem for the Rockets so far this season but that was not the issue tonight as Houston
overcame a 6 point first quarter deficit to win their 5th straight game.
James Harden led all scorers on the night with 31 points and 9 assists, going 11 of 19 from the field. Guard Jeremy Lin collected 19 points to go along with his 5 assists while Chandler Parsons had 20 points and 5 rebounds in the
winning cause.
“Dribble penetration hurt us quite a bit. ... They really spread us out and break us down and go by us. We're not the fastest team, so they can break our defense down and get by us on penetration." Kobe Bryant said referring to
Rockets outscoring them 60-44 in the paint.
It was an off night for the leading NBA scorer Kobe Bryant as he finished off with 20 points in 8 of 22 shooting from the field. Metta World Peace was right on the money; he posted 24 points as he went 4 of 5 from the three point
land while Steve Nash posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 assists for the short handed Lakers who were missing the services of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol, both missing the game due to injury.
Nash also overcame the 10,000 assist mark during the game; he is the 5th NBA player ever to dish out more than 10,000 assists.
"It's really hard to enjoy it right now," Nash said of the assists. "I don't want to discredit it, or not appreciate the company I share in this milestone, but right now it's the farthest thing from my mind. We're just trying to
find a way to win one game."
Lakers got off to a decent start to the game but could not match the energy and speed of the Rockets during the transition. Rockets wore the Lakers down eventually and turned double-digit deficit into a 13 point margin of victory
eventually. Los Angeles were up by 5 points with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter when Houston shifted gears and went for the game changing 21-4 run that put them ahead on 94-88 with 1:09 minutes to go in the period. Momentum was with the
Rockets in the final period as they cruised to the win in the end.
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