Los Angeles Lakers celebrate championship rings with opening win against Houston Rockets
Tuesday night was not just important as the Celtics Big Three met and overran the Heat Big Three, it was important because Los Angeles Lakers not only received their championship rings but later celebrated the moment by beating
Houston Rockets in an exciting comeback 112-110. It was truly a night to remember for the Lakers, who were the centre of attention at the fancy pregame ceremony where each of them walked to receive their priceless rings introducing the next teammate with a
few emotional strings attached to the words. Oh how O’Neal would have missed the Lakers. Not to mention the amount of expectations attached to the twice NBA champions who were starting a season that is bound to be full of wins for them.
They started in a rather meagre style. Kobe Bryant scored a marvellous 27 points. Pau Gasol had 29 points along with 11 rebounds for the Lakers. Bryant, a five-time champion along with Derek Fisher, was more than excited about
the pregame ceremony. He said that it is always fun when this night comes and this time it was a bit more exciting since each of them introduced their teammates.
Being as spectacular as it was, the game did not start off well enough for the Lakers as they were down 11 at halftime and 5 going into the fourth quarter which turned out to be wilder for the Lakers. Bryant recovered from a slow
start to finish off with 27 points, five rebounds and seven assists showing the class of players he belongs to. Excitement knew no bounds for the veteran Lakers’ hero when he told the sold-out crowd the amazement of seeing the whole city behind his team chanting
MVP, MVP.
Bryant played just over 37 minutes in the game as he wishes to stay healthy with his surgically repaired right knee just in case the Lakers are up for another lengthy playoff run.
The Lakers fell behind 15 points before struggling to a fourth quarter lead behind a 3-point storm by Shannon Brown. Brown seemed like the most valuable player in the court, scoring 16 points in 21 minutes including four 3s. 14
of his 16 points were scored in a span of not more than 6-and-a-half minutes. The lead was traded between both the clubs in the final minute of the game but it was Rockets’ Luis Scola who missed a difficult scoop just 3 seconds to the end. A lengthy video
review made the officials award the possession of the ball to Houston but all thanks to Lamar Odom, the attempt by Aaron Brooks was blocked.
Kevin Martin for Rockets had 26 points on 8-of-17 in shooting with three 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a block along with Brook’s 18 of his 24 in the first half, but even these fine performances could not save Houston from
its 8th lost game in the past 9 regular season meetings with the Lakers.
Rockets’ coach Rick Adelman believed his team met the world champs pretty well and it was just a 7-minute lapse that led to the defeat. Despite being the top performer for the Rockets, Brooks thought it was his fault that they
lost the game in the final minutes, since he just had no idea where he was on the floor and to add insult to injury, his leg kind of slipped. It was the enormous pregame ring ceremony that caused the Lakers to lose focus but being the NBA champs they are,
they managed to get over it soon enough to claim the opening win of their season.
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