The Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 103-102 last night in overtime in Ron Artest’s return to Houston. On the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers fought in a close game again into overtime and found a way to win. Kobe Bryant had the game high 41 points and his jumper was looking good throughout the game.

It was really strange watching Trevor Ariza go up against the Lakers. I must say as a Laker fan that I miss Trevor Ariza and what he did for us! I wish we could have somehow kept him and got Ron Artest at the same time. I know i’m greedy. But hay! Do you blame me?

Poor Shane Battier

Seriously I feel bad for Shane Battier sometimes. I really like the guy. I like how he plays, his leadership, his hustle. But it just seems like Kobe Bryant is so good that he’s able to mess with him. The entire night, Kobe was working from the post just like he learned from the summer time with Hakeem Olajuwon. The bigger Shane Battier still couldn’t stop the Kobe attack even with a different offensive approach from Kobe Bryant.

We are used to seeing Kobe taking Battier off the dribble, since it’s assumed that because he’s a little smaller than Battier then he can take him off the dribble. Instead he posts him up all night and goes for 41 on the second night of a back to back. Amazing!

Other than that, the rest of the Lakers starters looked good. The bench was still okay, but not good enough to Laker standards. Especially if they want to win another championship this season. Andrew Bynum apparently hurt his elbow towards the end of the game. We’ll have to stay up to speed on that and hope that it’s not another annual Bynum major injury!

Go Lakers!