The LA Lakers couldn’t control the Houston Rockets and lost in a second consecutive game Sunday night at the Staples Center 101-91. First Denver beat the Lakes 105-79 two nights ago; then in the second game the LA team was booed by its own supports after playing some very poor basketball against the Rockets. The Lakers haven’t been beaten this badly at the Staples Center for a while, but the bad news didn’t end there. Bryant's groin injury, incurred in the game against the Hornets, has not shown improvement and had him limping in the end of the night. Although Byrant denied its seriousness, he didn’t look good. Nor has the absence of Paul Gasol hasn’t helped the Lakers any. The host team started out strong, with a 16-2 run in the first 3 minutes of the game. However, Brooks got hot and the Rockets ended the quarter down by just six points, 29-23. The Lakers tried to expand their lead in the second quarter and managed with two shots in the first minute of the quarter to extend their lead to nine points. Nevertheless, the Rockets’ team work along with a free throw from Ariza took the lead putting the score at 44-43 with 3:29 left in the quarter. However, Bynum finally got the ball and scored to baskets taking the Lakers to the lead at the end of the quarter to close the first half with a 54-52. The third quarter was really intense as both teams were trying to control the action with back and forth baskets, running the score up and down both ways. However, in the last five minutes of the third, Houston took the control of the offense and took a seven-point lead, ending the quarter 70-63. During the fourth quarter, things looked even tougher for the Lakers, whose lack of confidence was evidenced by poor play. Kobe Bryant’s shooting game was off and none of his teammates stepped up to the plate. Of course, as their coach pointed out, it would have helped if they would have passed the ball more often to Bynum, their leading scorer. The Rockets took advantage of their confusion and scored some good baskets to close the game with a 101-91 victory. With this loss, the Lakers earned a total of 3 defeats, which was more than they had last season at this point. On the other hand, the triumph of the Houston Rockets brings them to the sixth place of the Western Conference with a record of 6-4. The Lakers are still ahead of them in fifth place, with a 7-3 record. At the end of the game, superstar Kobe Bryant said that he was really ashamed of the loss and the way his team played, especially regarding the disappointing turnovers given to the Rockets, but hoped that Los Angeles would improve in the following games. “Once you give team easy opportunities, your confidence gets higher, the basket gets bigger, and the 3-point shots fall a little bit more easily. We got to do a better job stopping them from getting easy points. I’m mortified,'’ Bryant said. “We'll get better; we know what's at stake. We'll figure our way through this.'’ The best scorers for the Houston Rockets were Aaron Brooks with 33 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists; David Andersen with 19 points and 6 rebounds; Carl Landry with 15 points and 10 rebounds; and finally Chase Budinger with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. For the L.A Lakers the best scores were Ron Artest with 22 points and 6 rebounds; Andrew Bynum with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks; Kobe Bryant with 18 points and 3 assists; and ultimately Shannon Brown with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. About the Author Ally White is a top senior copy writer on NBA games and sports action for the sportsbetting www.instantactionsports.com/. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, please leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.
