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Sunday, Jan. 30 2:30pm ET
Mobley hits crushing last-second three | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- The Los Angeles Lakers came in with the best record in the NBA, but left town feeling embarrassed. Cuttino Mobley hit a crushing 3-pointer with 19 seconds left, and Kelvin Cato led a late fourth-quarter charge that included blocking a shot by Shaquille O'Neal as the Houston Rockets beat the Lakers 89-83 Sunday. O'Neal led the Lakers with 27 points and 19 rebounds, but he lost the matchup with Cato in the closing minutes. "That was an embarrassing performance by our basketball team," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I was surprised that we didn't perform better than that on national TV. I was very disappointed. "As bad as we played, even if we would have won, it would have been embarrassing." With the score tied 79-79 with 3:32 to play, Cato blocked a shot by O'Neal. Seconds later, Walt Williams drilled a 3-pointer from the side and the Rockets didn't lose the lead again. Cato drew an offensive foul from O'Neal, and after he was fouled by Glen Rice, hit one of two shots. Cato followed with a slam dunk on a feed from Mobley with 2:07 remaining for an 85-79 lead. Mobley's 3-pointer closed the scoring. "Cato timed that shot pretty well," O'Neal said. "He's known for blocking shots and he did it there." Cato had four blocks and played in his fifth game since coming off the disabled list on Jan. 22. "That's just basketball, that's what they pay me to do," Cato said. "I get up for every game because it's been hard sitting on the bench just watching them play." The Rockets got the best of Cato when they needed it. "Cato has had some very good games before," coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "He doesn't have to be the scorer because he can help us in so many other ways, like those blocks." Houston snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Lakers have lost five of their last eight since a 16-game winning streak. "We didn't shoot the ball or defend very well," O'Neal said. "At the end, we missed a lot of shots. We would get the ball inside and I'd missed a couple of chippies or we'd go outside and just miss the shots." Steve Francis led the Rockets with 17 points, Mobley scored 15 and Cato 10. The Lakers never led in the first half, trailing 42-39 at intermission. O'Neal led a 15-5 run that gave them a 54-47 lead with 6:13 left in the quarter. O'Neal had seven points during the run. Minutes earlier, Los Angeles took its first lead at 47-46 on a three-point play by O'Neal. He followed that with a slam. Houston responded with a 10-2 spurt, but the Lakers went into the fourth quarter with a 66-65 lead. The Rockets got off to a quick start with Francis hitting nine points as Houston went ahead 14-5. The Lakers missed their first five shots and had hit only 3-of-13 with 5:18 to go in the opening quarter. Mobley scored Houston's first eight points of the second quarter, and the Rockets moved ahead 32-21, their biggest lead of the half. Kobe Bryant had nine second-quarter points for the Lakers. "We just didn't make shots," Jackson said. "When you can't shoot the ball, it's very difficult to win. Shaq had many shots inside but they didn't fall. We didn't have control of the game even when we had the lead. Game notesFrancis entered the game on a roll. He had 25 points, 14 assists and 17 rebounds against Golden State and 27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds against Denver in his previous two games. ... The Rockets are 11-10 all-time against Phil Jackson-coached teams. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard LA Lakers Clubhouse Houston Clubhouse RECAPS New York 120 Sacramento 111
Houston 89
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