Wow, never saw Yao this great. More respect for him. The way he played tonight, he is the number one center. That Brooks' layup after he split the defense was sick too.
Now on to why the Lakers lost:
1. No outside shots. The perimeter guys missed many open shots. So the Rockets can afford to swarm the paint more. Hopefully it has something to do with the long lay-off.
2. No fluidity in the offense due to the poor spacing of the floor, again, a result of poor shooting.
3. Team game is weak. Only saw one hi-lo and Gasol had way too many turnovers trying to force it. Gasol's mid-range game is totally MIA so Yao could stay in front of Kobe most of the time.
4. Kobe had to take over way too early and his missed shots in the 4th are mostly short, probably due to fatigue.
5. Small plays. LO did a lot of scrap plays but he disrupted the offense way too much in the 4th, burning clock with no purpose. In a tight game like this, missing 5 out of 6 FT hurts too. Fish sucks as usual. In the first quarter, he single-handedly put the offense to a halt. His spot up jumpers are still good, but he should've stayed within the game.
Now they should get the wake-up call. And I have to go with 4:2:-(
