Unfortunately, the second quarter didn't see the Rockets continue their impressive play. You knew you were in for a long quarter when a Kenny Thomas missed dunk led to a monster Shaq slam at the other end. Shaq took advantage of the fact that the greatest shot blocker in NBA history was on the bench and tried to find his niche in the game. It looked like he was going to until Hakeem came back in and promptly shut Shaq down. Unfortunately, the Lakers were in the midst of a 12-0 run, highlighted by two straight Rick Fox treys. Halfway through the second quarter, the Rockets had managed to hit only 1 of 8 shots while the Lakers were hitting at a 75% clip. Tonight's cure for the Rockets' ailments was a good dose of Moochie. He absolutely lit a spark under the team by scoring 6 straight points on some pretty acrobatic shots in the lane. But as the NBA usually goes, after cutting the lead to 5, the Rockets sat by and witnessed Kobe Bryant score five straight points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer while the Rockets seemed to already be in the locker room. Halftime score-54-44.

The third quarter began much like the game began, Mo Taylor on an impressive shot underneath the basket. Add two free throws a minute later, and it looked like Taylor was ready to stay and play for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the refs decided to keep their whistles in their pockets on the Rockets side of the court while being very liberal with them on the Lakers' side. Needless to say, Mo was back on the bench with 4 fouls. Meanwhile, the Lakers were extending their 10-point halftime lead to a 16-point blowout in the making. Fortunately, the Rockets decided that they were going to play all four quarters tonight. A Dream three point play and an Anderson three pointer (his only points) minutes later cut the lead to 7. Add to that 5 Shaq fouls, and it was looking good for another Rocket upset. Unfortunately, the Rockets forgot again that the quarters last 12 minutes and not 11:55 and allowed a buzzer beating three by J.R. Rider, giving the Lakers a 82-72 lead going into the final frame.

The Rockets needed another dose of Moochie come the beginning of the fourth quarter, and the lead is promptly cut to 4. Could've been closer, but Francis (10 pts) got blocked by the rim on a reverse dunk attempt. Another bright spot, Kenny Thomas (14 pts, 8 rebs), cut the lead to 3 with a little under nine minutes left in the game. The deficit fluctuated between 10 and 4 points for the rest of the game. It was looking really good when Shaq fouled out with 4:47 left and Mobley (13 pts) hit 6 straight free throws to cut the lead to 4. Unfortunately, the Rockets couldn't get any closer than that as they missed some good opportunities and had some pretty questionable calls made against them down the stretch. Despite that, Kobe Bryant was to much as he hit for a season high 37 points.

The play of the frontcourt, specifically Collier, Dream and Thomas, leads to encouragement for the rest of the season. If the guard play and bench play can reach the level we all know it can, we may be in for a very fun season.