Opening Credits 5/5/09

I warned all the lakers fans that this was going to be physical. I thought that it was a great game. Neither team would back down. I look forward to tomarow nights game. I feel that we’re in for another slugfest!

Don’t start Bynum on defense on Yao, have Gasol guard Yao for a bit.

Gasol will be able to defend Yao (as best as he can) while staying out of foul trouble.

Bynum can stay on Scola.

This will enable Bynum to stay in the game for more minutes than he’s been getting.

The offense is too out of sorts with him out there, and he keeps picking up two early fouls (even if they are cheap calls).

He’s still not the defensive presence we’d like him to be, so why let the offensive flow suffer?

This first game was not physical. It as as physical as any playoff game but not by any out of the norm type of physical type of game. I am sorry but Battier with a bloody head does not define this game as physical. Beside, I think before any fan of Houston pronounces themselves the winner of this series they have to realize that this is the first time they have been out of the first round so let’s take it one game at time. Just look at Blazer fans. Even before they got out of the first round their fans were in here talking about matchups and how they would be better fit to beat the Lakers. Yet, here we are and all they managed to do was to get eliminated in the first round.

This game is on NBA tv right now. As I watch it again, I’m trying to see how anyone could call it a physical game. It wasn’t. We missed shots. Simple as that. I’m sure the Rockets played the passing lanes well, but missing wide open shots, or shots we normally take and make isn’t because of “physical” game or great defense.

The Rockets D wasn’t any different from the regular season games.

I’m not making excuses. I’m stating how it was, or wasn’t. And physical, it was not!

One win and your chest is all puffed out? One good 4th quarter in 5 games against us and now you’re “Clutch City” again? Funny.

I will always welcome a debate from any fans. I think that simply because the Rockets won one miserable playoff game in the 2nd round all of a sudden Houston fans want to proclaim that Kobe is over the hill or that Houston is "clutch city". This is just one year out of the past several years in which the Houston Rockets have been successful and yet they are so called contenders. It was just one game! Any Houston fan should be proud of yesterday’s game. But give me a break, at least show some humility with that victory and stop trying to convince everyone in a Lakers blog that Houston is the better team because they won one game.

Kobe played like old Kobe last night and whether that was Houston’s defense making him do that, or his lack of confidence in his teammates to make a shot

Kobe kicked it out to the three point line to Ariza and Fisher time and again. How is that showing a lack of confidence in your teammates?

Resorting to name calling is the ultimate sign of immaturity. What are you 15? 16?

I might disagree with TexasHoosier, but at least he’s debating me. Not resorting to pathetic juvenile taunts.

Do you Rockets fans really want to open this can of worms? Don’t get too full of yourselves because the Rockets played a really great game while the Lakers played exceptionally poorly, cause you shouldn’t expect that to be the norm for the series. Why don’t you wait a game or two before declaring that the Rockets’ D is so impenetrable that the Lakers can’t do a thing against it? After all, the Lakers had little trouble with it in the other 4 meetings this season. One game is just that: one game.

The Lakers are still favored to win this series, so all the trash talking you’re doing is more than likely going to come back and bite you in the ass. Just a friendly suggestion to not get too puffed up just yet. If Houston wins the series, then by all means, come back and talk all you want; but it’s still quite possible the Lakers could win in 5. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time this year that LA had won 4 straight games against Houston.

No one believed it was the Lakers that lost it, not Utah that won it.

Hindsight will give more clarity.

Until then, we argue about who is right.

Too bad none of the Jazz fans who were adamant this was a sign the Jazz were going to take the Lakers to seven games never came back and admitted they were wrong.

It was a really close game and Kobe and Pau had subpar games. Dunno, Rockets fans – I wouldn’t be so confident.

Pau was particularly crapstastic. He was unable to take advantage of the mismatch when Scola and Yao were on the bench, and instead the Rockets went on a run. At one point his teammates wouldn’t even pass Pau the ball on the post. I think I commented to timbo or Gis that it looked as if they’d lost their confidence on him. If Bynum, Odom and Pau can’t outplay (or at least match) Scola, Yao and Landry, then the Lakers are in for a long series. Or short.

But most likely long.

Kobe teammates didn’t show up, they show up and give Kobe some help then all of a sudden game 1 looks completly different, I’ll give Houston credit they won and there are no excuses alive that can take that fact away, all I hope is for better effort from every Laker that steps on the floor tomorrow from beginning to end now lets see what everyone says after game 2.

First of all H-Town IS Clutch City Not because of yesterday, but because THAT IS THE CITY’S NICKNAME. LA is the City of Angels, Houston is Clutch City, New York is the Big Apple, Portland is Rip City. Its a nicknam calm down.

LA has more talent, but Houston may be a better TEAM. Not saying they are, but last night they were. Kobe played like old Kobe last night and whether that was Houston’s defense making him do that, or his lack of confidence in his teammates to make a shot we will have to wait and see. It was one game but wondahbap pointed out that Kobe doesnt drive alot anymore.

Im not saying houston is going to win the series, but i think laker fans are still a little too overconfident. The four regular season games mean NOTHING at all. None of those games were played with the rosters these teams currently have, or the way these teams are currently playing. This is the second season were defense and team basketball win. The rockets played better defense and better team basketball and they won last night

In regards to “Clutch City” someone else NOT YOU used that so called nick name to use it as an example that Houston was going to win because they were more clutch than the Lakers.

Also, you stated that this is just one game but in the same sentence you said that Kobe doesn’t drive “anymore” dude! it was one game! “anymore” emplies that Kobe has changed his game for more than one game.

I think that Lakers fans DESERVE to be overconfident. That is what we are known for. Would you be if your team had been as succesfull in the post season like the Lakers organization has been? I appreciate your passion but you are in no position to be talking as if you Houston has been out of the first round in almost the last decade.

No Laker fan will ever relate to any Houston fan. We are not familiar with what it’s like to not be out of the first round for such a long time. I mean for god’s sake even T mac proclaimed that he would love to play with Kobe. I can see how one victory against the goliath with the magnitude of a Laker team can make any opposing fan’s chest get all puffed up. I have seen those symptoms before. Just ask the Utah, Portland, and especially any Sac Queen’s fan. They all feel much better after they have defeated the Lakers. But, keep in mind that this victory signified just one thing. Just one victory but nothing else. You are not going to get a banner in your building after one victory. You are not going to raise the Larry O’brien trophy anytime soon. But if one victory helps you feel better today remember that if you are not a Laker fan that it is only temporary. The Lakers have been contenders and winners for years to come. Can you say the same thing about your beloved Rockets?