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Lakers Rockets Preview - Lakers vs Rockets Preview 12/15/06 |
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How to Buy Online: Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers Preview at the Staples Center- 12/14/06 A few days ago These teams met Tuesday night in Houston in a wide-open offensive battle, combining for 196 points and playing well over the posted total of 185. The Lakers used a huge third quarter to take control of the game and then survived a fourth-quarter surge by the Rockets to win 102-94 as 2-point underdogs. “That was the weirdest game I`ve ever been a part of,” the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant told reporters on Tuesday. “That`s the first time I`ve put the ice on and had to come back out and play.” Bryant led the Lakers offensively with 23 points, while Yao Ming paced the Rockets attack with 26 points. Odom out for a while The only downside to the Tuesday night win for the Lakers was that forward Lamar Odom sprained his right knee in the first quarter and left the game soon after. “I don`t know exactly when it happened,” Odom told reporters. “But I felt like something was really wrong. I have no idea how long it`ll be. I`ve never had anything like this.” On Wednesday the Lakers announced Odom could miss up to a month of action. “He`s going to miss some time,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson told reporters. “I`ll be really happy if he plays again in January.” Odom is second on the Lakers in scoring and leads the team in rebounding. Since he joined the team in 2004, the Lakers are 3-18 straight up when Odom is out of the lineup and 6-14-1 against the spread without him. Kobe ready for bigger role With Odom out of the lineup, Jackson says he has no choice but to increase Bryant’s playing time. Bryant missed all of training camp recovering from knee surgery and Jackson was hoping to limit his playing time until the star guard was back in top playing condition. But with Odom missing all but a few minutes of Tuesday’s game against Houston, Bryantended up seeing close to 43 minutes of court time. One night later in Dallas, Bryantagain received more playing time that Jackson originally planned, taking to the floor for more than 43 minutes. “He may have to take on a little bit of a bigger load than I`d like him to right now,” Jackson told the Long Beach Press-Telegram of Bryant, who had a season-high 33 points against Dallas. Back-to-back games for Rockets The Friday matchup with the Lakers is the second of back-to-back games for the Rockets, having played Golden State on Thursday night. So far this season Houston is 2-3 against the spread and straight up in the second of back-to-back games. Their most recent such encounter was on Dec. 9 when they beat Washington 114-109 as 1-point favorites one night after topping Charlotte 92-62 as 5 ½-point favorites. Star Rocket grounded The Rockets didn’t have All-Star forward Tracy McGrady in the lineup when they lost to the Lakers on Tuesday, but it’s something they’ll have to get used to since McGrady is out indefinitely with a bad back. McGrady has accompanied his team on their West Coat road trip, but he isn’t expected play any time soon despite receiving treatment from the Rockets medical staff daily. McGrady also missed 35 games last season with back problems, and in the 40 games he’s missed since joining the Rockets in 2004, Houston is just 9-31 straight up and 15-23-2 against the spread. Welcome back Bonzi With McGrady out of the lineup indefinitely, it appears the Rockets are prepared to give at least some of the former scoring champion’s playing to time to Bonzi Wells. Exiled by Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy earlier this year because of poor conditioning, Wells returned to practice this week and saw playing time against the Lakers on Tuesday. “I wasn`t expecting to play,” Wells told reporters after the game with the Lakes. “We were here in the locker room at halftime and before we went back out, coach (Van Gundy) came up and said, ‘I`m starting you in the third quarter.’” Wells only saw five-and-a-half minutes of court time Tuesday, but says if Van Gundy gives him a shot, he can help the team during McGrady’s absence.
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