At 00:00 on May 18th in Beijing Time, the Rockets lost to the Lakers at 70-89 as a guest team, thus being eliminated by a total score of 3-4 and bidding farewell to this season's NBA.
Since a large amount of previous data showed that the Rockets were highly motivated and would win against the Lakers in the last game, I also mentioned before that the Rockets defeated the Lakers in the previous game. Therefore, today's game result was still quite disappointing.
The Rockets' mentality became unbalanced. Aaron Brooks scored 13 points, Luis Scola 11 points, Von Wafer 10 points, and Ron Artest made only 3 out of 10 shots for 7 points.
The Lakers fought hard to get through and will face the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals with home-court advantage. Kobe Bryant played only 33 minutes, scoring 14 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists. Pau Gasol scored the highest 21 points and also grabbed 18 rebounds, Trevor Ariza scored 15 points, and Andrew Bynum scored 14 points with 6 rebounds.
It was already considered a victory for the Rockets to reach this point, and they should have had no psychological baggage. However, unexpectedly, after the start of the game, the Rockets were overwhelmed by pressure, frequently getting their passes stolen by the Lakers, and missing their shots, including close-range layups, as all of their first 12 attempts missed.
The Lakers turned pressure into motivation, starting the game with tight defense and not allowing the Rockets to make a basket in the first 7 minutes, leading 13-2. The Rockets didn't score until there were 4 minutes and 44 seconds left in the quarter when Chuck Hayes made a layup. After the first quarter, the Rockets trailed 12-22.
Shortly after the second quarter began, the Rockets narrowed the gap to 9 points, but this was the smallest difference between the two teams thereafter. Bynum responded with an elevated play, and Lamar Odom hit a three-pointer. The Lakers went on a 11-2 run to lead 35-17. With 1 minute and 31 seconds remaining in the quarter, Gasol made a hook shot, putting the Lakers up 51-26. The Rockets then scored 5 consecutive points, trailing 31-51 at halftime. They shot only 13 out of 40 in the first half, including just 1 out of 9 from three-point range.
In the third quarter, the Lakers continued to maintain a large lead, and Yao Ming was seen yawning continuously on the sidelines. Shortly after the third quarter started, the Rockets narrowed the gap to 18 points, but Kobe immediately responded with a three-pointer. The Lakers scored 7 straight points to lead 58-33 again. Despite the Lakers also having a low shooting percentage in this quarter, they mostly maintained an advantage of more than 20 points. After three quarters, they led 69-50.
In the fourth quarter, the Rockets picked up the pace and launched their final counterattack. However, after increasing the speed, their shooting accuracy did not improve, instead giving the Lakers opportunities for counterattacks, allowing them to easily score multiple times. After going on a 9-2 run, the Lakers led 82-56 with 6 minutes and 47 seconds remaining, a 26-point lead.
With 4 minutes and 7 seconds remaining in the game, Kobe returned to the court. The Lakers immediately went on a 7-0 run, leading 89-58 with 3 minutes remaining, a 31-point lead.
The outcome was already certain, with the Lakers advancing by 4-3 and facing the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
In my NBA diary, I also mentioned that the Rockets had a good chance of winning the Western Conference title this year. Although it couldn't be said that they would win the championship, at least defeating the Lakers was not a problem. Who would have thought that in the Rockets, where Yao Ming is the best man, without Yao Ming, the inside game would be so vulnerable.