Wow. Hardly any team holds off the Lakers at home in the fourth quarter.

Go Rockets!

Beat LA!

Maybe the Rockets are too tired -- and well-coached -- to realize they are supposed to be quaking intimidated.

Here's my theory that I haven't seen anywhere else: For many years Yao had the Beijing Olympics in front of him. He was under tremendous pressure from that besides the normal NBA. He managed to participate fighting through a foot injury, and carried the flag for China at the Opening ceremony - as I recall. He is the most recognizable athlete in a country of over a billion people - the pressure must have been intense for it to go well...which it did.

Once the Olympics was done, Yao has been free of a lot of stress. He seems happier this year, and focused like never before.

Watch out L.A.

my two favorite teams are the Blazers, and whoever's playing the Lakers.

I'll give myself credit... I called this series for Houston. It's still early of course, but Kobe's supporting cast is in need of an upgrade... they looked outmatched versus Houston's role players.

After the Lakers were clearly out of their league in the finals last year, Kobe and Phil went about spinning the notion that their bench is super. Perhaps to give them confidence? Mind over matter? To get help from the refs? Who knows, but wishing doesn't make it so. Teams like Portland and Houston exposed that.

Also, how about that 'boisterous' Staples Center crowd? I had to check the calendar because it didn't seem like a playoff atmosphere. Yeah, those coked-out clowns really deserve a championship run...

In reading your post that compared stats between Bowie and Oden, I prepared the following charts that compare each to Yao. I'm glad I waited a day for Yao to have a good game.

Nobody in their right mind would say Veteran Bowie is better than Veteran Yao. But...was Rookie Bowie statistically better than Rookie Yao? And how did Rookie Yao compare to Rookie Oden?

Overall, Rookie Bowie appears to have had a better rookie season than Yao, and Yao had a better overall rookie season than Oden...except...when one breaks down the stats per minute played. Then Oden appears to have better overall stats than Yao and as good as or slightly better than Bowie.

Oden's problem is really minutes on the floor--whether foul trouble or injuries. Experience will get Oden out of foul trouble; injuries are something the team will have to manage as they happen.

But the bottom line is that rookie stats are not really that good at predicting long term value. And this blog has been overly critical of Oden for no reason other than he was the first draft pick. At the same time, this blog is overly fond of Yao when he had his ups and downs.

I expect Oden will develop into his position; Jack Ramsey agrees. And between Jack the Hall of Fame Coach and Jack the Casual Fan, I'm going with the man who brought us the pennant.

Cheers,

(The name to the right of each catergory is the athlete with the best stat)

Category Yao Bowie Oden
Age 22 23 21
Games 82 76 61
Minutes 2382 2216 1314
Field goals 401 299 198
Free throws 301 160 144
Off. rebounds 196 207 169
Total rebounds 675 656 424
Assists 137 215 31
Steals 31 55 25
Blocks 147 203 69
Turnovers 173 172 87
Fouls 230 278 238
Points 1104 758 540

Category Yao Bowie Oden
Min. per game 29.0 29.2 21.5-Bowie
Fld goals /game 4.8 3.9 3.2-Yao
FT per game 3.6 2.1 2.4-Yao
Of. rbnds /game 2.3 2.7 2.8-Oden
Ttl rbnds /game 8.2 8.6 7.0-Bowie
Ass. /game 1.6 2.8 0.5-Bowie
Steals /game 0.37 0.7 0.40-Bowie
Blocks /game 1.7 2.7 1.1-Bowie
TO per game 2.1 2.3 1.4-Oden
Fouls per game 2.8 3.7 3.9-Yao
Points per game 13.4 10.0 8.9-Yao

Category Yao Bowie Oden
Pts per minute .46 .34 .41-Yao
Off. Rbnds /min .08 .09 .12-Oden
Ttl Rbnds /min .28 .29 .32-Oden
Ass. per minute .057 .097 .023-Bowie
Steals /min .013 .024 .019-Bowie
Blocks /min .061 .091 .052-Bowie
TO per minute .072 .077 .066-Oden
Fouls /minute .096 .12 .18-Yao

It'll be interesting to see what happens after the refs get David Stern's memo following this game. Anyone want to guess how quickly Battier picks up 4 fouls guarding Kobe like that in game 2?

The Lakers got a much deserved loss. They came out playing with the attitude of "keep it within single digits and take it in the fourth quarter." As a result they chose the non-aggressive jump shooting game with less than half of their shots falling. Their 3 point shooting percentage was more abysmal than the Philadelphia 76ers regular season team percentage.

Yao deserves every bit of that win. Same goes for Ron Artest who picked his shots really well and Aaron Brooks who came out going for the juggular.

Much deserved win for the Rockets.

Keys for the Lakers to win:

1. Get Yao into foul trouble early on by driving into the post and forcing him to guard you.

2. Punk Aaron Brooks like Trevor Ariza did Rudy Fernandez. Make him think that he will leave the game with a broken neck or hip every time he drives into the lane.

3. Front Yao, knock his knees with yours and step on his feet.

That is a good start at adjusting.

The Lakers stole game 2. Bryant and Fisher were doing everything except eye-gouging; Bryant got away with only one T, Fisher with a one-game suspension:

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/05/07/suspensions/index.html

oh and, of course, the Rockets got called for about 25% more fouls than the Lakers.