Lakers apply a nice finishing coast

What's Wrong With The Lakers? (First of a 10-part series.)

Oh, they won?

With all the other wondrous things we know the Lakers are, we learned they're crafty too, when they lulled the Houston Rockets into thinking they couldn't beat a fifth-grade team Sunday night. With the overconfident Rockets coasting by the second period, when they led by 16 points, the Lakers changed back into their awesome selves, roared from behind and wound up routing the visitors, 111-82, to remain unbeaten.

OK, forget about that series on their weakness and vulnerabilities.

Five Down, Seventy-Seven to Go! (First of a 10-part series.)

"They exposed a lot of things," said Houston Coach Rick Adelman. "You get beat like this, it exposes a lot of things."

Here's one of the things it exposes: the West race, as in what race?

That was one of the Lakers' foremost challengers, romping to a 28-16 lead in the first quarter while the Lakers turned the ball over eight times and shot 29%.

When Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks scored in the first minute of the second quarter, that made it 32-16.

By then, Coach Phil Jackson had four reserves on the floor plus Andrew Bynum, but that's when the lights went out on Houston.

The Lakers outscored Houston the rest of the way, 95-50. If they don't always start well, they're a beast at the end, having outscored their five opponents in the fourth quarter, 157-103. By way of contrast, the Rockets are like a highly evolved version of the Clippers.

With Ron Artest, they were expected to challenge the Lakers. But with Tracy McGrady, their best offensive player, missing all but 12 minutes of the exhibition season, they're still learning to play together.

As you can see by the second, third and fourth quarters, they're still a work in progress. Not that the Lakers were happy to see Artest go to Houston or anywhere. Their preferred destination was a lot closer to home, with Jackson talking about their need for a tough defensive forward, which describes Artest perfectly.

"Well, I didn't have specifics," said Jackson before the game, "but Ron Artest is one of those type of guys. You can send him out to play somebody and he can handle just about anybody."

Artest, of course, comes with baggage. But Jackson, who coached Dennis Rodman and Bison Dele, has a high eccentricity threshold.

For his part, Artest has long seemed eager to get here, for one local team or the other.