Review: LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets
NBA has arrived
The new season of the NBA kicked off today with defending champions San Antonio Spurs having a hard fought victory against their arch nemesis Dallas Mavericks with final score readin 101-100. The next big clash on the opening night was between LA Lakers and Houston Rockets at Staples Center.
This game was the most awaited game due to various reasons. Firstly, It was the first regular season game for former Laker legend Byron Scott who was coaching the Celeveland Caviliers. Secondly, this game marked the first time face off between Jeremy Lin and his old team also this match also marked the first time face off between Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant ever since the former left LA Lakers last season.
One sided affair
Houston Rockets routed the LA Lakers 108-90 on the opening night much to the disappointment of the Laker fans at the staples center. The Lakers were struggling both offensively and defensively through out the game with Houston staying on lead through the game.
The Lakers had poor first qaurter by scoring just 19 points where as Houston had scored 31 points by the end of the first quarter. Although by half time Lakers did manage to bring the deficit down to 7 points.
Towards the beginning of the second half Houston Rockets continued their scoring rampage with four out of their five starters scoring in double figures. James Harden led the scoring for the Rokcets with 32 points out of which he scored 9 points from the 3 point land he also had 6 assists along with those 32 points.
Bryant showing form
For the Lakers it was the Black Mamba (Kobe Bryant) who was the scoring leader with 19 points on his comeback game. Other than the Mamba only two players from the Lakers had scored in double figures i.e. Carlos Boozer (17 points) and Ed Davis (11 points).
The reason for the loss can be attributed to poor offensive execution and on the part of Lakers by converting just 35.4 percent shots from the feild and an euqally dismal display from the 3 point land by converting just 3 shots from the 3 point land out of 10 attempts speaks for the fact that Lakers were greatly missing Steve Nash who is out for the rest of the season due to root nerve issue in his back.
Injured Nash absence felt
Steve Nash is one of the elite level shooters from the 3 point land in the NBA with a career accuracy of 42.7 percent. Also the Lakers also felt the abesence of Nick Young who will be back in action after 8 weeks due to a ligament tear in his thumb.
The Los Angeles Lakers will be facing Phoneix Suns tomorrow and this happens to be their first game on the road. After that, they will be facing their arch rivals the LA Clippers at home. As the season progresses it will be a challenge for the Lakers to get wins through the season without the presence of their starting point guard Steve Nash.
Nonetheless, the Lakers need to work on their offense and every player on the roster must step up as Kobe Bryant is aging and he needs his team mates to carry some of the scoring burden.
Here are the highlights from the match.