Luis Scola got the Rockets off and running with a red-hot
start before finishing with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Houston - There are two ways to view the incredible, amazing, too good to be true story that is the Houston Rockets right now.
Either:
1.) They have more lives than a cat, are harder to kill than a cockroach and stem from the same family tree as Lazarus.
Or...
2.) Maybe, just maybe, everyone needs to put aside the tombstones, stop penning eulogies and open their eyes to the fact that, yes, this team is in fact very good and never should have been written off in the first place.
Then again…
On second thought, forget it. Go ahead and proceed with the funeral talk, columnists. Keep chanting, ‘Beat LA!’, Denver fans. Do everything possible to bury, ignore and utterly disregard the Rockets. They don’t mind. Really, they don’t. For they have no witty retort; no clever comeback at the ready. In fact, they have only one response to those with shovel in hand. As it turns out, it’s the only response that matters.
They simply keep winning.
It should come as absolutely no surprise then that the Rockets reprised their resurrection routine once more Thursday night before a capacity crowd of raucous, euphoric witnesses at Toyota Center. Written off and left for dead by seemingly everyone, Houston went wire-to-wire in a convincing 95-80 Game 6 win over the Lakers, forcing the series back to Los Angeles for a decisive seventh game. It was the sort of virtuoso performance which perhaps came as a shock to many around the country, though not to those who had seen the way this club has responded to adversity all season.
“For the last two days all I've heard is that we weren't going back to L.A.,” said Rockets’ head coach Rick Adelman. “Guys in our locker room didn't believe that.
“This team, the way they listened and the way they went about the game plan and the way they executed it was really fun to see because they’ve grown during these last 30 games of the season and the playoffs. They just keep growing. This team has so much heart and they don’t care what people say. Yao went down and we haven’t blinked an eye. We’re just playing to see how far we can take it and you’ve got to give them credit.”
First among those deserving to take a bow Thursday night was Luis Scola, whose scorching start propelled the Rockets to a 17-1 lead right out of the gate. The second-year forward from Argentina finished with terrific numbers - 24 points and 12 rebounds – but just as important were the energy and confidence he instilled in his teammates with the passion, hustle and desire he displayed right from the opening tip.
“Luis has played a lot of big games in his career,” said Shane Battier. “More than most people know. He set the tone tonight and he was awesome.”
source from : NBA.COM
