Nothing better then the Lakers and the weekend, I’m looking forward to this match up tonight.  The Rockets come into the game 4-2 and the Lakers are a perfect 4-0.  The match up tonight between Yao Ming and Andrew Bynum will be fun to watch, as well as Tracy McGrady and Kobe.  I’m expecting this game to move fast with both teams pushing the ball up and down the court.  The Rockets added Ron Artest in the off-season and so far the team has looked good.  This will definitely be the toughest match ups for the Lakers so far this season, and if they can pull this one out they definitely deserve the 5-0 start.

– HALFTIME UPDATE –

After a horrible first quarter the Lakers came alive and managed to out score the Rockets to finish the half on top 50 – 48.  Eight turnovers were the problem in the first quarter.  Luckily for the Lakers Artest and Yao got in foul trouble early on and had to sit out some of the first half.  First half highlights had to be the blocks.  Kobe had an awesome come from behind block on Yao, and just before the end of the half Lamar also had a come from behind block on Artest.  Let’s hope the Lakers keep the energy up going into the second half.

– GAME RECAP –

The Lakers continued the game strong and got the win against the Rockets 111-82 to extend their record to 5-0.  Despite the sloppy play in the first quarter the Lakers looked really good tonight.  If you watched the game you have gotta love all the blocks.  It seemed like no Rockets players were safe in the lane.  In fact if they didn’t go up strong tonight they got their stuff blocked.

Shooting for the Lakers has been highly criticized so far this season, but the way I see it is that will come around with time and tonight it started to heat up.  Shooting tonight was the best so far this season 53.2 percent up from the last four games average of 43.5 percent.  In the second half alone they shot 65.8 percent.  The fact that they won all four games shooting only 43.5 percent shows that the team is playing better defense, something the team didn’t have last year.  I know the first four games weren’t against the best offensive teams in the league, but with Bynum back in the starting line up next to Gasol and Bryant it just feels different.

The Lakers now head to Dallas where they’ll play the first of their back to back games against the Mavericks on Tuesday and the Hornets on Wednesday.  I read that the Lakers have something like nine back to back games this year, I think that is the most they have ever had in a single season.  Personally I like the back to back games as a fan, but I don’t like it for the team.  Playing two nights in a row against two pretty good teams is going to be quite the challenge for the Lakers, I’m hoping they have enough in the tank to keep their winning streak alive.  Follow us here on Tuesday at 5:30 for tipoff.