LOS ANGELES -- Take a quick glance at the box score of the Lakers' 112-110 opening night victory over the Rockets, and you'll see familiar names jump out at you on the stat sheet. Pau Gasol led the team with 29 points and 11 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant followed closely with 27 points of his own, along with five rebounds and seven assists. Yet without the heroics of Steve Blake and Shannon Brown, we'd likely be talking about Bryant's and Gasol's efforts coming in a Lakers loss.
"We just didn't seem to find traction until Shannon and Steve got in the ballgame and changed the contexture of that ballgame," Phil Jackson said afterward. "It was a great effort by those two. They gave us a big rally."
Blake's threes to end the third got things started, and Shannon's big fourth helped them finish it. But Blake ultimately made the big shot, receiving a kick-out pass behind the three-point line from Kobe Bryant, with his team trailing by one and just under 19 seconds remaining on the game clock. Blake calmly drained the wide-open three, and one of the newest members of the Lakers successfully endeared himself to the team's fans in his very first contest wearing the home gold jersey at Staples Center.
Steve Blake, Shannon Brown the Opening Night Heroes for the Lakers
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