Houston 108, L.A. Lakers 104 (OT)
HOUSTON, Jan. 17 (Ticker) --The Shaq-Yao showdown was stolen by
Steve Francis.
Francis scored a career-high 44 points, stealing the spotlightaway from
Shaquille O'Neal and
Yao Ming and lifting the HoustonRockets to a 108-104 overtime victory over the Los AngelesLakers.
The first meeting between O'Neal, the 7-2, 350-pound superstarcenter of the Lakers, and Yao, the 7-5, 300-pound rookie centerof the Rockets, began with a bang and had its moments.
But the game's biggest star was Francis, who made 12-of-21shots, 6-of-8 3-pointers, 14-of-17 free throws and handed out 11assists. He made a 3-pointer to force overtime, then made sixfoul shots in the extra session before finding Yao for a crucialdunk with 10.2 seconds remaining.
"It's certainly one of my top performances," Francis said."With Yao and Shaquille, I didn't want to overshadow that. Mypoints came within the flow of the game. I got into a grooveand hit a shot."
Playing in front of his stepfather Philip Harrison, O'Nealcollected 31 points and 13 rebounds. After a slow start, he wassimply overpowering at times and showed Yao that he still has along way to go.
"He's like a truck," Yao said through an interpreter. "I'venever encountered someone that strong before. He's not crafty,it's just strength. It wore me out playing him."
"Shaq was up for the game," teammate
Kobe Bryant said. "It tookhim some time to adjust to his size but once he did, it wasback to the boom."
Playing in front of his parents, Yao was no slouch, collecting10 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. Until his late dunk, hedid most of his damage in the first five minutes, catchingO'Neal a bit off guard.
"He's a classy guy," O'Neal said. "I was looking forward toplaying him. He's a great player. It's another challenge forme."
"He did a great job," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "Noone can stop Shaq, but I thought he (Yao) played wery well onhim. He had a very good beginning and then he got tentative.It was a great learning experience."
The matchup was a spirited one and featured none of the ill willthat may have existed between the big men beforehand. Prior tothe game, the Organization of Chinese Americans held a newsconference outside the Compaq Center and derided O'Neal forracially insensitive comments he made about Yao last June.
"I already apologized," O'Neal said. "Yao Ming is my brother.Asian people are my brothers. I grew up in the army with peopleof all colors. I was just joking. I made a bad joke and it'sunfortunate one idiot writer tried to start a racial war onthat. Don't make a racial war out of this."
"I know the Asian community has supported me. I'd like to thankthem," Yao said.
Cuttino Mobley scored 29 points for the Rockets, who have wonfour straight games.
Bryant had 22 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for theLakers, who had a five-game winning streak snapped and fell to5-15 on the road.
With the Rockets clinging to a 102-100 lead, Francis dribbleddown the shot clock and used a high pick from Yao, who rolled tothe basket, took a bullet pass and dunked. Mobley made fourfree throws to seal the win.
"I knew this was a basket that could decide the game," Yao said."We had very good timing on that play. Steve was very hottonight and we knew if he got double-teamed, he would get theball to someone else."
"I knew they would try to jump out at me and when that happened,I knew Yao had to be open," Francis said. "It happened so slowwatching him dunk the ball. I was so excited for Yao when hedunked it."
Bryant made only 5-of-21 shots but took over late in the fourthquarter. He made a jumper and two free throws to give theLakers an 89-87 lead with 1:03 remaining. After Francis tied itwith a layup, Bryant sank a difficult fadeaway jumper to makeit 91-89 with 36 seconds to go.
Houston lost possession on a ball that appeared to go out ofbounds off Los Angeles and Bryant was fouled. But he split thefree throws, leaving the door open for Francis, who drilled thetying shot from the top of the arc with 13 seconds left.
"We've made three of those off that play this year," Tomjanovichsaid. "When people know you have to make a 3-pointer, it'shard to get one off."
"I was running up and I heard the coaches yelling, 'Here itcomes,'" Francis said. "I thought
Robert Horry would come outon me, but he didn't. That's our secret weapon, but it's not asecret anymore. I was fortunate to hit that shot."
Francis opened overtime with two foul shots, but O'Neal dunkedover Yao and backed him in for a spin move and a 96-94 lead with3:17 to go. Francis made a pair of free throws around a3-pointer by Mobley, but O'Neal again backed down Yao and dunkedto keep it a one-point game with 1:27 to play.
O'Neal smothered a driving Francis but was whistled for aflagrant foul with 1:11 left. Coach Phil Jackson argued thecall and was hit with a technical foul. Mobley made thetechnical foul shot and Francis sank both free throws for a102-98 lead.
"We made some critical mistakes in regulation but what reallybothered me was the flagrant foul call against Shaq," Jacksonsaid. "That was just a ridiculous call. It's unfortunate theref took the game away from us with that call."
"The unfortunate thing was it was decided by (the refs)," O'Nealsaid. "A whole bunch of people who paid a lot of money had tosee a game that was decided by someone who doesn't make a lot(of money). That's unfortunate."
The teams traded empty possessions before Horry halved thedeficit with two from the line with 33 seconds remaining.
The Rockets shot 44 percent (35-of-79), including 10-of-15 fromthe arc, and held a 50-43 rebounding edge. The Lakers shot 43percent (40-of-94) and committed just eight turnovers whileforcing 19.
Also among the sellout crowd of 16,285 were former Rocketsgreats Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone. In the openingminutes, they watched in amazement as Yao had a hook, layup and15-footer over O'Neal at one end and blocked two of his shots atthe other. "I wanted to be more aggressive. It gave me greatencouragement," Yao said. "At the beginning of the game, Iwanted to do my best to defend Shaq because he is one of themost important parts to that team."
"At the beginning of the game, I think I was trying too hard,"O'Neal said. "He is 7-5, so he is supposed to block shots.Everybody gets their shot blocked. This is not the first time Ihad my shot blocked."
O'Neal's first basket was a dunk and did not come until the 5:51mark. It started a 17-0 run that he capped with another dunkfor a 28-17 lead with 1:31 left in the first quarter.
Things between the big men calmed down for a while. The Rocketsclosed to 28-22 after one period and 47-46 at halftime.
