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Albeit the overhauled Rockets played well early in this year's NBA campaign, the team around Trevor Ariza has been struggling as of late. Thus, the Houston Rockets are about to face another tough challenge when Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are in town on Sunday at 0:30 a.m. GMT.

 

 

Without any doubts, the Lakers managed to live up to the high expectations of their fan base as they are once again holding on to the first place in the competitive Western Conference. Posting a 52-18 record, Kobe Bryant and company appear to be a safe bet for the number one seed in the West and could very well make another run to the NBA Finals down the stretch. Most importantly, the squad of coach Phil Jackson played exceptionally well on both ends of the floor and efficiently executed their triangle-offense. Besides Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol is having another terrific year, averaging 17.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 blocks per contest.

 

In contrast, the Rockets are desperately trying to make it back to the playoff race as they still trail the eight placed Blazers by four games. While Houston's 36-32 record might not be particularly exciting, it should be noted that the Texan team is still without franchise cornerstone Yao Ming and has a nice group of young players that could make some noise next year. However, as of now, it is rather unlikely that the Rockets will be able to make a post-season appearance in 2009-10 as they would most likely have to pull off a miracle. Therefore, the Lakers will enter their encounter with the Rockets as everyone's favorites to clinch a win on Sunday night at Toyota Center. Ultimately, Houston has neither the individual talent nor the defensive intensity L.A. is able to bring night in and night out.

 

 

You can watch all games of the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.

 

Posted: 15th May 2009

 

With a terrific performance on Wednesday night Kobe Byrant and the Los Angeles Lakers took a 3-2 series lead after blowing out the Rockets 118-78 at Staples Center. Thus, the Houston Rockets will have to win game six on Friday at 2:30 a.m. GMT to avoid being eliminated from the post-season.

 

 

There was much discussion about the Lakers’ inability to beat a shorthanded Rockets team in game four. However, they bounced back with a huge win at home sending Houston back to Texas with a humiliating 30-point road loss. Although one has to give the Rockets credit for still being in the series despite having to play without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, but there is no excuse for their performance in game five. They did not move the ball well and settled for too many contested jumpshots which resulted in shooting only 32% from the field. Likewise, at no point of the game they managed to defend the Lakers who scored 118 points even with their starters resting throughout the entire fourth quarter.

 

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting in only 30 minutes on the floor. Spanish All-Star Pau Gasol added another 16 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. Houston on the other hand could not find their rhythm offensively and lacked production from their key players. Ron Artest had only 9 points on 4-of-17 shooting and showed an extremely poor shot selection that hurt his team significantly.

 

Heading back to Houston, the Rockets will have to play much better basketball on Friday to stay in the post-season. One factor will be their ability to increase their energy level on the defensive end of the floor. Even though it is understandable that containing Kobe is only feasible to some extent, there is no excuse for not closing out on jumpshots attempted by the rest of the Lakers team. Moreover, coach Rick Adelman will need more lane penetration to get good looks at the basket, most importantly Aaron Brooks will have to attack of the dribble and create open shots for his teammates.

 

 

You can watch this NBA Western Conference semi-final game right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming. Back on their home court, the Los Angeles Lakers were able to take the series lead and will now make their way to Houston for game six of the Western Conference semi-finals.

 

9-5-2009

 

Despite losing some momentum in the game one home loss, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to bounce back in game two and won 111-98 versus the Houston Rockets. They will now travel to Texas for game three where the Rockets will host the Lakers on Saturday at 2:30 a.m. GMT.

 

 

After struggling in the first half of game one, Kobe Bryant came out of the locker room with a lot of energy in game two. More specifically, he had 15 of his game-high 40 points in the first quarter and set the tone for the Lakers' offense. However, the Houston Rockets showed why they made it to the conference semi-finals by rallying back from a 14-point deficit to make it a 57-57 tie at half-time.

 

In the second half things got a bit out of control with a lot of foul whistles and multiple technicals being called. After Luke Walton and Luis Scola got tangled up on the base line, Derek Fisher threw an elbow at Scola's face during the next Rockets possession and was subsequently ejected. Only 4 minutes later, Ron Artest got upset over being hit by Bryant's elbow and a no-call which led to Artest being ejected as well. However, it was confirmed that a number of plays will be reviewed including Bryant's elbow hit which may result in a flagrant foul on Kobe.

 

Even though Houston lost the game by double-digits they managed to hang around and stay in striking distance until Artest's ejection. Considering that Kobe had a terrific night and the Rockets were still able to compete, the Lakers will be aware of having to bring their A-game to Houston in order to advance. Likewise, Houston's key player Yao Ming picked up several fouls early in game two and barely saw any playing time throughout the first three quarters. Thus keeping Yao out of foul trouble will be essential for a potential Rockets win in game three.

 

 

You can watch this NBA Western Conference semi-final game right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming.

 

Tags: Houston Rockets, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Yao Ming, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA live, Kobe Byrant, Western Conference, live NBA streaming, Texas, NBA streaming