In an epic battle of future Hall of Famers, Yao Ming and the visiting Houston Rockets held off Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in a 107-104 overtime win (box score) on March 30, 2007 at Staples Center.
Bryant scored a game-high 53 points, though it took him 44 shots to get there. (He made 19 of them for a respectable 43.2% shooting clip.) While Rockets guard and fellow Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady did score 30 points, Bryant’s defense helped limit him to just 29.2% shooting.
McGrady did have 10 assists, as compared to just two assists by Bryant. “I was fine with our defense on Bryant,” Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said postgame (game recap). “I didn’t have much problem with that. He’s a great player. He took a ton of shots. There’s only so much you can do.”
The real difference between the teams was inside, where Yao scored 39 points on just 18 shots, making 11 (61.1%). He also grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked four shots, and shot 21 free throws, making 17 of them (81.0%). It was the third-highest scoring game of Yao’s NBA career.
It all proved to be too much for the Lakers and Kwame Brown, who had 15 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes. Brown and Yao were selected No. 1 overall in the 2001 NBA Draft and in 2002, respectively.
“Obviously Tracy was struggling from the floor,” Van Gundy said postgame. “Yao came through in a big way.” The 7-foot-5 center finished the 2006-07 season averaging 25.0 points per game, which was the highest single-season total of Yao’s eight-year NBA career.
The win improved Houston to 47-26 and dropped the Lakers to 38-34. The two sides finished fifth and seventh in the 2007 Western Conference standings, with each losing in the first round of the 2007 NBA playoffs.
