Congrats to the Rockets on their big road win. That was a gutty performance. Our ace in the hole may be Adelman's experience going against Phil Jackson and the Lakers so often while coaching in the Pacific Division all those years. He knows what the Lakers will do probably better than anyone. From there, it's a matter of getting his players to recognize and execute.

Artest also seems to be the x-factor we didn't have in past seasons.

Kobe, now added to my Malone, and Stockton hated punk list. And LA floppers, deserve to loose. poor coaching control by whats his name in LA.

Poor coaching control for LA??? What do you call it when adelman gets yelled at by a scrub like Von Wafer on the sideline in the middle of a playoff game.

Houston just lacks the offense to win this series. Too much dribbling around in the 4th quarter tonight. And it was done for sure after Artest was unlucky enough to have his "I got hit in the throat" motion look like an "I'm gonna kill you" motion.

Houston plays very hard but is outgunned here. I'll take money it doesn't go past 6. The only drama left is who the first Rocket to beat up Sasha Vuajic will be.

Most of the time I feel the Yao bashing we hear a lot is unwarranted. However, I can certainly see why people get upset with him. Yes, he got into early foul trouble, but he played like a total wimp last night when he was in game and has got to be one of the weakest (especially in the hands) big men of all time. Get a frickin' contested rebound or hold onto the ball in traffic once in awhile, Jeezus! Adelman should have just left Landry in the game and only put Yao in to spell him when got tired.

I disagree the Rockets are outgunned by the Lakers. The Rockets problems were mostly self inflicted last night. The ~19 turnovers, missed FT's, and over-dribbing is what killed them - not LA's offense or overpowering play. They can let Kobe get his points, but they cannot let the others like Odom and Gasol get easy baskets. Yao was letting them do whatever they wanted to in the paint and was pretty much a stiff.

As a side note, not factoring in Kobe and Gasol/Yao and Artest, I'd take the Rockets roster over the Lakers roster. If the Rockets take care of the damn ball they have a good shot at beating the Lakers, IMO.

That's the point. Kobe makes the difference. The Rockets only have one good one-on-one player and that is Yao and he is easy to deny and easy to double. That means the 4th quarter is spent with Aaron Brooks dribbling or Ron Artest shooting contested jumpers. Every once in a while it works (game 1), but you can't win 4 games like that.

The Lakers meanwhile just run their offense and if it doesn't work Kobe raises up for a 50/50 jumper over Battier or gets a teammate an open look. The Rockets may have the deeper roster (especially at PG) but it's irrelevant. They can't close because nobody on the roster creates shots. Maybe (and a big maybe) brooks in a year or two if he learns to stop dribbling so much and learns to run the pick and roll.

Don't forget the NBA is a fixed league. It's going to a Kobe-LeBron final. That's what the suits want and the order has been passed down to the refs to make sure it happens.

I really wish the NBA suits would look at the census data from China...Yao in the finals would be the best worldwide rankings the NBA has ever seen.

i never thought i'd say this, but watching artest dribble in traffic makes me miss mcgrady.

ugh.

i was thinking about that last night. Artest dribbling is like watching two fat people...well you know. He's just doesn't look graceful, or even athletic, when he's dribbling. He likes to dribble a lot and go nowhere while running out the shot clock slightly less than Mac. It's frustrating as hell, but at least he gives you consistent effort and defense...which is why i haven't gotten sick of him yet.

....oh and how is it possible that Joey Crawford still has a job, much less being assigned (rewarded) to playoff games. He freaking shoved a player last night. If a player, well most players, did that they would be suspended...Crawford will probably be calling games in the finals.

yes on balance, i don't miss mcgrady at all (always thought we was a liability) and think artest makes an important contribution.

i just wish they'd tell him not to put the ball on the floor when triple covered.

sort of like back in the day when drexler was raining - and missing - threes in the playoffs, and you just wanted rudy t to sack it up and remind him that outside shooting was not the reason he was on the team.

Well, the air certainly went out of this balloon now that Yao is out with a broken foot. I doubt it would happen but I'd love to see the Rockets goon it up for the rest of the series. Take every cheap shot at Kobe they can practically take.

I mean, Artest and Battier could certainly do something clever, couldn't they?

the only way I can describe that game is wow...I've always liked Battier, but after today he's way up on my list. Not just the threes he hit, but the way he was still fighting for loose balls after the game was basically over. He always does those things, but it was pretty special in this sietting.

yeah, poor LA, wonder what their excuse is now. Scola, Battier, and Artest are really solid and if Brooks is gonna shoot like this, who knows. Much bettter game w/o all the cheap shots.

Heard quite the interesting factoid this afternoon: Since the "malice in the palace" and the ensuing 1 year suspension, Ron Artest has had 15 technicals, 1 flagrant, and has been thrown out twice. Over that same time, Kobe Bryant has had 55 techs, 3 flagrant fouls, and has been run 4 times. Yet Ronny's the thug.

YeeHa, going to game 7, Rockets made it look good tonight. Scola amazing game. Landry showed up big. Brooks hit his shots. I really enjoyed the techical on punky , flopper Kobe.

if the rockets could lose artest, too, they night be a contender.

I'm proud of what the Rockets did this year, especially given the three key injuries. I am sure there will be some attempted trades and upgrades, but they gave us quite an entertaining show this year. Very good team comaraderie. I think Artest grew up a lot, was a model citizen, speaks well, played hard, had several very good games to help us win in the playoffs, and deserves to try and stay. And he had some frustrating overdribbling fits as well, part of being behind, wanting to win, contribute, and needs some coaching to correct, not to bad, all the guys had off games and on games, good shots, bad shots, good defense, and turnovers.

I congratulate the Rockets as well for their overachieving season. It shows the strength of the support players that they can still beat the #1 seed twice without their star players.

I think what the Rockets need to do next is realize it is fools gold to believe McGrady and Yao can stay healthy for an entire season and get rid of one or the other.