07 May,2009 01:09 PM IST | | AFP
Kobe Bryant scored 40 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 111-98 win over the Houston Rockets in a testy playoff battle that included ejections, numerous fouls and words exchanged between both sides.
Houston's Ron Artest and Lakers guard Derek Fisher were the two biggest combatants and were thrown out for separate incidents as the Lakers levelled the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
"We fired back. Playoffs are very physical. We have to fight back," Rockets Yao Ming said.
Artest finished with 25 points while giant Chinese centre Yao had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Carl Landry had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Houston.
Both teams will now wait to see if the league's disciplinary committee decides to had out suspensions before Friday's game three of the series.
There were a total of two ejections and five technical fouls handed out by the officials yesterday.
Bryant, Artest, Luis Scola, Luke Walton and Lamar Odom were all slapped with technicals.
"If you are going to be physical you have to expect people to be physical back," Bryant said.
The fireworks began in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter as Fisher threw a body check that floored Scola after the latter tried to set a pick.
Bryant and Artest were involved in the main event of the evening with just under seven minutes left in the game. Artest, who has been given the role of guarding the Lakers superstar, said Bryant elbowed him under the basket and he wasn't going to take it anymore.
After pleading unsuccessfully with the officials for a foul, Artest sprinted across the court and engaged Bryant face-to-face.
"I am getting tired of this guy," Artest said of Bryant. "I never threw an elbow at his face. I went over there and there were no punches, I didn't shove him in the face ... just a confrontation and then I backed off."
"I told (Bryant) to relax. 'You hit wrong person ... don't you know you are hitting Ron Artest'.
"I am not going to retaliate. I did that stuff when I was in high school and I am done with that."
Artest says he is trying to control his temper which has got him in trouble with NBA brass in the past. He describes himself as a product of the America's crime-ridden and drug plagued ghettos where basketball games can turn deadly in an instant.
"I used to play back home in the neighbourhood games like that," Artest said. "I remember one game. This guy I played with. The other team got mad and they broke a piece lead from a table and they threw it at him and it went through his heart and he died.
"So I am use to fighting on court. That is how I grew up playing basketball."
Bryant, of course, had a much different upbringing as a third-culture kid in Italy where his expatriate father played professional ball.
"It wasn't anything malicious," Bryant said of the contact with Artest under the basket. "I was just trying to establish position."
The Lakers seized a 14-point lead at the end of the first quarter but Houston battled back to tie the game at halftime.
Yao ran into foul trouble early, collecting three fouls in the first half.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he doesn't expect his players to back down in the remaining games in the series.
"Unfortunately the end of third quarter took erratic turn. But it set tone for what is going to happen later in this series," Jackson said.
Fisher defended his hard check on Scola and said there was no intent to injure.
"I knew they were going to run a high screen roll and we had a foul to give," he said. "My intent was to run through the pick hard. I don't agree with an ejection, but I understand Joe's position and wanting to get the game under control. Hopefully there won't be any suspensions involved."
