The Houston Rockets stunned the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers 100-92 on Monday to get their Western Conference semi-final series off to a surprising start.
Yao Ming scored 28 points and had 10 rebounds to help the fifth-seeded Rockets notch a rare win at the Staples Center.
The Eastern Conference semi-finals also began with an upset, as the underdog Orlando Magic weathered a storming comeback from the Boston Celtics to defeat the defending NBA champions 95-90.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In Los Angeles, Houston survived a 32-point effort by Kobe Bryant to defeat the Lakers for the first time this season to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“We are not going to run with these guys, they are so good offensively that we had to muck it up,” the Rockets’ Shane Battier told reporters.
“And we did a great job just controlling tempo,” Battier said.
PHOTO: AP
Yao briefly left the game in the fourth quarter after hurting his right knee, but returned.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson found much to dislike about his team’s performance.
“I don’t know if we can play much worse, to be honest with you,” Jackson said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Rockets grabbed an early advantage before fending off the Lakers for the remainder of the contest.
Los Angeles lost just five home games during the regular season and looked set to record another win when they took a 77-76 lead with eight minutes to play, but the Rockets responded with nine consecutive points to secure the victory.
Ron Artest contributed 21 points and Aaron Brooks had 19 for the Rockets, who had lost all four regular-season games to the Lakers. Pau Gasol followed Bryant with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Game Two is in Los Angeles today.
In Boston, Dwight Howard grabbed 22 rebounds and 16 points to help Orlando build a 28-point, second-half lead, but Boston launched a sensational comeback to close the gap to three points on Paul Pierce’s three-pointer with less than seven seconds left.
However, the Magic closed out the win with two free throws from J.J. Redick.
“We let the lead slip ... but there’s plenty of positives,” Redick, who had 12 points, told reporters. “We got a big win to start the series and that’s what matters.”
Rashard Lewis chipped in with 18 points for Orlando, Mickael Pietrus adding 17, and Hedo Turkoglu 15.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was happy to get the victory, but did not like the way his team ended the game.
“We were sort of trying to run out the clock,” Van Gundy said. “You can’t do that in games like this.”
The Celtics, who host Game Two today, got 23 points from Pierce. Rajan Rondo chalked up 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and Glen Davis had 12 points.
The Celtics shot less than 39 percent and turned the ball over 14 times, seven by Rondo.
“We played flat, we played with no energy in the first half, but it was not a fatigue factor,” said Boston caoch Doc Rivers, whose team were taken to a Game Seven by Chicago in the first round.
“We’ve got to be better than that at the start of the game,” Rivers said. “Clearly, when we put pressure on them it became a whole different game.”
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS