For Lakers, it's time for that tough question

After a couple of weeks' worth of Hoop Dreams, Hollywood's team spent Monday night living out a different sort of classic.

There Will Be Blood.

On an angry night at Staples Center, blood was everywhere.

It dripped from Shane Battier's face, leaked from Pau Gasol's eye, splattered so profusely on the court that it required several ball boys several long minutes to wipe it up.

The stain left the Lakers' hardwood, but it remains today on the Lakers' psyche, seeped into the heads of players who now face an ugly question they thought had already been answered.

Are they tough enough to win an NBA championship?

For one night, they weren't even tough enough to beat a visiting 53-win team in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, losing, 100-92, to the Houston Rockets.

Check that verb.

They didn't lose, they were Pacquiao'ed.

Playing the only way that would give them a chance to win, the outmanned Rockets mugged the Lakers from start to finish, knocking Andrew Bynum to the bench and Gasol into oblivion and the vaunted Lakers cool into thin air.

In the end, the Lakers not only lost their poise, but their fans, the supposedly most passionate group in Los Angeles literally running for the exits in the final minutes, making it an embarrassing night for everyone.

How bad was it?

With 4:54 left in the game and the Lakers trailing by six, Rockets star Yao Ming crumbled on the floor after a collision with Kobe Bryant.

He grabbed his right knee. He cried out in pain. He limped into the tunnel. The Lakers exhaled.

Moments later, after stretching his knee against a wall, Yao ran back on to the court and scored eight points in the final four minutes.

Yeah, it was Paul Pierce, Part II.

"At least he didn't use a wheelchair!" shouted a fan.

It didn't matter. It was just as awful.

"I don't know what our trainer did to Yao, but it was like Rocky coming out there," said Rockets Coach Rick Adelman.

If so, then the Lakers were the side of beef.

Bryant was harassed by Shane Battier into 17 missed shots out of 31 attempts while barely getting to the rim, shoot only five free throws.

He showed up at the arena with a sore throat, but his inability to control Battier was tough for everyone to swallow.

"That was our goal, make him hit jump shots and not get to the rim," said Adelman.