Lakers begin season with a scratchy win
Los Angeles (LA) Lakers showed their back up strength as Steve Blake and Shannon Brown played out of their skins to lead the Lakers through a nerve wrecking fourth quarter. They produced moments of brilliance to dig the Lakers out of a hole and clinched
victory from the jaws of defeat in a breathtaking encounter against Houston Rockets.
The night started emotionally as the lights went down at the Staples Center for the ring awarding ceremony. The players walked to the centre court one by one, gleefully accepting the championship ring and then commenting about the player next in line.
They epitomized their togetherness as a team and didn’t they need every bit of that to finally cross the line against a spirited Houston Rockets outfit?
The LA Lakers title defense started in a patchy way. The match started with Odom missing a dunk shot in the opening seconds and from there on in Rockets started to dominate the proceedings.
Brooks and Martin led the way in the first quarter as it ended with the Rockets leading 33-26. Brooks chipped in with 15 points in the first quarter and Martin also showed his class as Houston gained a healthy 15 point lead in the second quarter. The Rockets
continued to dominate the play in the second quarter and took a 62-51 advantage into half time.
The Lakers were trailing by 11 points deep into the third quarter when Gasol and Kobe sparked resurgence. They reduced the deficit slowly but surely and Steve Blake rounded off the quarter with two three pointers to make it a five point game at 82-77 with
Lakers still trailing. The fourth quarter started with Brown scoring a three pointer as the Lakers rallied back to take a 103-95 lead with 3:26 remaining.
The match was set for another twist as Houston showed their grit to claw back into the game. Martin, Scola and Brooks combined to give the rockets the lead at 108-107 with 53 seconds remaining. This is where Brown, the player, who has rejected more lucrative
contacts to stay for a shot at the third Championship ring, delivered two of the biggest moments of the game.
First, he shot a three pointer to give the Lakers the lead with 18 seconds remaining and then prevented Aaron Brooks’s reverse lay-up attempt to level the game on the final play.
The match ended in the favour of the Lakers but the Rockets can take a lot of heart from this performance. Kevin Martin the Rocket’s shooting guard scored 26 points while Aaron Brooks chipped in with 24 points and nine assists.
Luis Scola netted in 18 points and an impressive 16 rebounds. Rockets were also boosted by the return of Yao Ming, who was playing in his first meaningful game since recovering from a broken foot he endured in the Western conference semi finals 2008-2009
against the Lakers in Game 3. He looked impressive in the 24 minute time limit he was given by the coach Rick Adelman and scored nine points and had eleven rebounds.
For the Lakers, Pau Gasol ran the offense and scored 29 points and 11 rebounds. Kobe Bryant recovering from a knee surgery adopted a more cautious approach looking to make the plays rather than finishing them. He scored 27 points with 11 from free throws.
Lakers had a stale first half and at one point they were trailing by a margin of 15 points but the turning point of the match was when Blake netted consecutive three pointers late in the third quarter to reduce the margin and Brown finally gave his magic
finishing touches to clinch victory.
Interestingly enough, for Lakers it was not a one man show rather a comprehensive team effort which got them off and running for their third consecutive title. The sixteen time champions started their campaign in a rather casual manner but recovered in the
end. Importantly, the match went to the wire and the entertainment, which started with the Ring awarding ceremony, culminated in a befitting manner.
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