Los Angeles - The Los Angeles Lakers made their point without their point guard. Kobe Bryant scored 33 points, Lamar Odom had 16 with 13 rebounds and the Lakers defused the hosting Houston Rockets 108-94 on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal playoff series.
"It's an important win because I wanted to see how we'd respond to this kind of test," said Bryant, after the top seeds regained the home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series that resumes with Game Four on Sunday.
"Houston is a very physical team, and we knew we'd be in for a dogfight. It was good to see us respond the way that we have."
Spanish-native Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza added 13 apiece for the Lakers, who stopped the Rockets' nine game-home winning streak.
Jordan Farmar had 12 points and seven assists in place of starting point guard Derek Fisher, who was serving a one-game league suspension for flooring Argentine Luis Scola with a high elbow in Game Two on Wednesday night.
"Obviously, Fish will come back to claim his spot, but Jordan's game will be noted," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He played a good game tonight."
Ron Artest led Houston with 25 points before being ejected for landing a hard foul on Gasol in the final minutes. China's Yao Ming finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds before leaving late in the game with a left ankle sprain.
"Right now my ankle is sore," Yao said. "We'll have a running test tomorrow morning to see how it is. Should everything be all right, I'll play on Sunday."
Los Angeles led 50-48 at halftime, and extended it to 74-62 by outscoring its hosts 24-14 in the third quarter. The cold-shooting Rockets connected on six-of-25, and watched Bryant drain a 35-foot jumper to end the period.
"We just couldn't find ways to score in the third," Rockets forward Shane Battier said.
Trailing by 13 early in the final quarter, Yao's dunk with 4:13 left pulled the Rockets to within 90-84 but the Lakers responded instantly.
Farmar hit a jumper, and Bryant nailed a three-point dagger to beat the shot clock at the 2:21 mark, making it 95-84. The Lakers never allowed the lead to slip below eight the rest of the way.
"In the third quarter we did not show up," Yao said. "In the fourth quarter it was just too late."
Orlando Magic 117, Boston Celtics 96 Rashard Lewis scored 28 points, Turkish-native Hedo Turkoglu added 24 and the short-handed Magic routed the visiting Celtics to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series.
"We got good performances by virtually everyone, and obviously we had a great shooting night," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, referring to the club's sizzling 59 per cent from the field. "That kind of energy, effort and ball movement is what it's going to take."
However, Van Gundy cautioned it was not a time to rejoice.
"This is not the time of year to celebrate a win in the playoffs, especially against a team like Boston," he added. "It's basically like being at halftime with a one-point lead. We got to get our minds on Game Four very quickly."
Orlando hosts Game Four on Sunday.
Foul-plagued Dwight Howard had 17 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks for Orlando, which played without point guard Rafer Alston, who was serving a one-game suspension for head slapping Eddie House in Game Two.
However, veteran Anthony Johnson stepped in to direct the offence and chipped in with 13 points.
"We could not have asked for more out of him tonight," Van Gundy said."
Paul Pierce tossed in 27 points, and Rajon Rondo added 15 for the defending champion Celtics, who were victimized by the Magic's versatile game.
"You give them their inside game and their outside game, then you don't have a chance," Pierce said."
Orlando led 53-41 at halftime behind 11 points apiece by Lewis and Johnson, while Howard had four blocks.
Howard had nine early points in the third quarter as the gap grew to 72-52. But he went to the bench with his fourth foul, and the Celtics closed the period on a 12-2 run to pull within 78-69.
Boston drew to 80-73 on a layup by Kendrick Perkins with 11 minutes left. With the Magic ahead by 11, Howard again went to the bench at the 9:50 mark and never returned.
Orlando responded with a game-sealing 17-8 run, highlighted by three-pointers from Turkoglu, Lewis and Courtney Lee to push the lead back up to 20.
"I thought this would be a phenomenal game tonight," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought both teams would play unbelievable ball, but it just didn't happen.
"Like I told the guys in the locker room, everybody was awful, and our defence was awful. I thought they were the aggressors and we were the retaliators all night. But we'll come back on Sunday."
