Rockets at Lakers
THE STORY: Call this the what-if game when the Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. For the first time since commissioner David Stern squashed a trade just as training camps were opening, Pau Gasol meets the Rockets, the team in which he would have joined. The Rockets were set to send Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic to the New Orleans Hornets. The Lakers would have gotten Hornets guard Chris Paul. “That would have been very hard for me to adjust to,” Gasol said. “But if it would have gone down, I would have still done my best to do what I do and be the player that I am and continue to play my best." As it is, the Rockets signed center Samuel Dalembert. Houston has gotten strong play out of Scola (15.5 points per game). The Lakers, who will play their fourth game in six days, have gotten tremendous play out of center Andrew Bynum in his two games back after serving a four-game suspension. Bynum averages 23.5 points and 14.5 rebounds.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FS Houston, FS West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (2-2): The Rockets are vulnerable inside on defense, allowing a league-worst 54.5 points in the paint. “It’ll be tough,” said backup center Robert Patterson, who is coming off ankle surgery. “They’re taller than us. We have to be more physical than them. If that’s what it comes down to, who is going to be tougher on the court?” The Rockets are trying to work in Dalembert, who averages just under 20 minutes per game.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (3-3): In the two games since Bynum returned, he and Pau Gasol have combined for 94 points (on 63.6 percent shooting) and 45 rebounds. Kobe Bryant has made 12 of 46 shots (26.1 percent) in his last two games and was only 6 of 28 in a loss to Denver on Sunday. But don’t expect him to stop shooting. “I do what I do," Bryant said. “If guys are open I kick it to them; if they’re not, I shoot it.”
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Rockets have lost nine of their last 11 to the Lakers.
2. Houston has allowed 108.5 points in road losses, but only 84.5 in its two home victories.
3. Martin averaged 26 points in three games against the Lakers last season.