HOUSTON — Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and the Lakers took a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series with a 108-94 victory over the Rockets on Friday night.
Lamar Odom had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and reserve point guard Jordan Farmar had 12 points and seven assists in place of the suspended Derek Fisher, who was ejected from Game 2 for a hard hit on Luis Scola when he set a pick.
Game 3 had no signs of the rough play that turned testy in Game 2 until the final minute, when Houston’s Ron Artest was ejected for a hard foul on Pau Gasol. Artest was ejected from Game 2 for a verbal altercation with Bryant following Bryant’s elbow to Ar- test’s upper chest.
“I don’t think that was a flagrant, maybe a flagrant one,” Bryant said of Artest’s ejection. “That rule is so all over the place, it’s hard to judge. I’m an ’80s baby, so that’s just two shots and let’s go.”
Artest had 25 points and Yao Ming added 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets, but Yao was bothered by a lower-left leg injury in the final minutes and was limping as he left the court.
The Lakers snapped the Rockets’ nine-game home winning streak. Game 4 is Sunday in Houston.
The Rockets trailed 50-48 at halftime, then missed 15 of their first 19 shots in the third quarter.
Yao missed a baseline shot with three minutes left, and Bryant beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer with 2:21 remaining for a 95-84 lead that virtually put it away.
