The Lakers had just completed their shootaround for tonight's game against the Houston Rockets when Derek Fisher eased out, his clothing bag draped across his shoulder, a contented look on his face.

When the media approached and asked Fisher for a comment about being suspended for Game 3 tonight because of his leveling Houston's Luis Scola in Game 2 Wednesday night, Fisher shook his head, smiled and continued his walk.

"I didn't think much of it, to be honest with you," Kobe Bryant's said about Fisher's body-check of Scola.

Bryant also got the attention of Stu Jackson, the NBA's vice president of basketball operations, for his elbow to the neck of Ron Artest.

Bryant was given a flagrant foul-2 Thursday, but he wasn't fined or suspended.

The significance for Bryant and the Lakers is that if any player gets four points worth of flagrant fouls in the playoffs, he's suspended for a game. Bryant now has one point counted against him.

"The flagrant fouls, in this postseason in particularly, have been very inconsistent," Bryant said. "They've just been all over the place, from all kinds of plays that you see in various series."

The Lakers and Rockets are tied at one win apiece in this best-of-seven-game series.

When asked who would start at point guard tonight in Fisher's place, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson remained mysterious.

It'll be either Jordan Farmar or Shannon Brown, but Jackson wasn't willing to say.

"How about you?" Jackson asked a member of the media. "You volunteer?"

Without Fisher, Bryant said, the Lakers' rotation becomes shorter.

"We have guys that are capable of stepping in and playing well," Bryant said. "Shannon has been playing extremely well for us. Jordan, he's obviously played well for us. So they are going to have to contribute."

Artest and the Rockets maintained that the Lakers lack respect for them.

In fact, Artest has been making a lot of noise the last few days.

Bryant was asked if he expected anything extra out of Artest tonight.

"I don't know," Bryant proclaimed. "Do I look like I care?"

Bryant was asked several questions about Artest.

Artest said the Lakers were "punked by the Celtics" last season during the NBA Finals. Artest maintained that Bryant knows about Artest's crazy history and should have known better than to elbow him.

Bryant paused before saying:

"You guys know me, man," he said. "You know I don't back down to anybody, simple as that."

Game 2 of the Lakers-Rockets series became more physical. There were five technical fouls, two ejections, two flagrant fouls and two bloodied players.

But Bryant doesn't expect any of that to carry over.

"We understand that at the end of the day, it's how well you play," Bryant said. "It has nothing to do with yesterday's stuff that was part of Game 2. It's about going out there and playing your best basketball. Whoever plays the best basketball tonight will win."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lak ... 6690.story

Round 3 might be a more fitting label than Game 3 when the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets meet Friday night in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Ron Artest of the Rockets and Derek Fisher of the Lakers were ejected in separate incidents and a total of five technical fouls were called in Los Angeles' testy 111-98 victory on Wednesday night that evened the series at 1-1.

On Thursday, the NBA suspended Fisher for Game 3 after he decked Luis Scola with a shoulder block as the Rockets forward set a pick. Houston coach Rick Adelman called the shot "malicious" and said the suspension was justified.

"There was just no excuse for anybody doing that," Adelman said Thursday.

Later in Game 2, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers hit Artest with an elbow that wasn't called. Artest pleaded to the referees, then ran across the court and got right in Bryant's face, earning a technical and the ejection.

The league gave Bryant a flagrant foul one penalty on Thursday, meaning he will be suspended for one game if he gets three more flagrant foul ones during the postseason.

Artest was disappointed with the ruling on Bryant, saying NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson should look at the replay again.

Artest said Bryant landed his elbow above his shoulders, but Jackson said it hit Artest in the chest.

"If that was me throwing the elbow at Kobe, first of all, I would've hurt Kobe way more than he hurt me," said Artest, who scored 25 points in Game 2. "I probably would've knocked him out with the same force he used against me. That's why I'm not going to throw an elbow at somebody's head. It's dangerous. That goes to show me, that if Kobe hits me with an elbow, I can just get hit."

So what's in store for Game 3?

Shane Battier, who has guarded Bryant for most of the series, expects both teams to tone down the unnecessary roughness, because the referees will try to take immediate control.

"They'll call a tight game, a lot tighter game than we've seen to this point," Battier said.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson isn't so sure the shoving will stop.

"They're going to be physical, we're going to have to meet that," Jackson said. "I don't think we have to retaliate, but we certainly have to be able to contest."

Bryant, who scored 40 points in Game 2, said the Lakers are benefiting from the series' ruggedness so far.

"I think it's good for us," Bryant said. "It elevates our play, it makes the game extremely emotional and kind of raises it to a fever pitch, which brings out the best in a lot of players."

Artest said the Lakers want to prove they can handle physical play after losing to Boston in last year's finals.

"They don't want that to happen again," Artest said. "Last year, that was the word on the street, that they got punked by the Celtics. This year, they came out tough, so I kind of respect them."

Amid the confrontations in Game 2, Pau Gasol had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Lamar Odom added 11 rebounds, starting in place of struggling Andrew Bynum. The two helped hold Yao Ming to 12 points after Houston's leading scorer had 28 in the series opener.

Houston committed 19 turnovers which Los Angeles turned into 23 points, one of Adelman's main concerns heading into Game 3.

"We were really stagnant (Wednesday), we stood a lot," Adelman said. "We're turning the ball over because they're very aggressive. They're one of the best teams at guarding isolations, guarding post-ups. We have to get them out of their comfort level defensively."

The Rockets, who took home-court advantage in the series with their Game 1 victory, went 33-8 at home during the regular season. But the Lakers compiled the league's best road record (29-12), including two wins in Houston, so the Lakers are downplaying any edge the Rockets may have stolen.

"It's 1-to-1," Odom said. "If you consider home court an advantage, then I guess you could say so. But we can play on the road and I think that we have proved that the whole year."

Adelman said Thursday that Von Wafer will play in Game 3 after the two argued and the guard was sent to the locker room during Game 2. Adelman said Wafer was just upset about being taking out of the game.

"He doesn't have to like coming out," Adelman said, "but it's his job to accept that."

http://espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=290508010

Final score Lakers 104 Rockets 97.

It'll be interesting to see how Jordy/Shannon do tonight since they are candids for the future starting PG slot. Anyway, I hope Jordan's hard work pays off and has a great night.

I'm looking for the group to deliver tonight on both ends more than Kobe. Lets see if they have what it takes. I'm expecting them to be focused the whole duration of the game since they're on the road in a hostile environment that doesn't let you rest. We have yet to see a gritty tough performance on both ends from these Lakers. I don't care what they did against Utah. I'll be satisfied if they improve off of game 2 though. My point is that its not all on Kobe tonight, its more on whether we get that collective effort from 1-5.

^^ Err...because the snake is actually called the "Black Mamba."

Tonight is time for Kobe to show us just how great he is. That doesn't mean going out and scoring 50 points tonight, it means letting the game come to him. If he is feeling it and can go for 50 without any detriment to the team, so be it. But if he can rack up 15 assists and only score 20 points, then so be it.

Either way, Kobe is going to have to come out and play focused for 48 minutes, and his teammates will need to as well. I think we really need to win this game, to get rid of any confidence that might be building up in Houston, and put them back in their place.

Thanks, seriously.
In that case I hope he is venomous enough against the Rockets.

Not a good shot by Jordan. I know he was open there but not the right shot at that situation. Run the clock down as much as you can.