I made some quickie comments about Friday’s game on Red State today. Here they are:
I’ve been sick, and still am, so here’s a delayed comment. I’d still be asleep in fact, were it not for the fact that I couldn’t get back to sleep, because my last Claritin D had worn off…
Anyway yes, that game was good. Combined with the previous Lakers/Rockets game, in which Houston fought hard to wipe out a 20+ point Laker lead, my thought late in this one (even before OT) was that it’d be GREAT for these two teams to meet in the playoffs. It might happen too, as a 4/5 or 3/6. Not guaranteed, though, because I don’t see either team dropping lower than a 6. Of course there’s always the second round…
I think this game was an excellent contrast between the teams two number one stars. Their number two options are both out (Odom and McGrady) so it’s perfectly fair to use this game to compare Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant.
Yao was a monster in the first half, making I think it was 6 blocks in the first half. He picked up only two in the second half though, I think none in OT, and in fact got blocked at least twice himself in the second OT, during the run in which the Lakers took the game away. He was tired. This is his fifth year in the league, and he fades in the fourth quarter like a rookie in the spring.
Kobe on the other hand, managed to follow perfectly the script set for him by his demanding critics. He gave totally selfless basketball a fair chance, only scoring two in the first quarter, and then kicked it in to overdrive as the game went on. He didn’t completely neglect his teammates late though, and so Smush hit some big shots late, too.
I bet Smush will stop fading yate before Yao does though.