Steve Blake rips the net with huge 3 to beat the Rockets

On a night that had extra meaning due to the past couple years of Dwight Howard’s team-hopping saga, the hero would end up being Steve Blake, aka the Blake Mamba.

Nevertheless, Houston held a small lead with seconds remaining. Los Angeles bungled their penultimate play, nearly turning the ball over on the baseline. Then they followed it with a doozy, a three-point attempt right over the object of their passionate ire.

Houston’s guards got held up and Blake ran out to the sideline for the inbounds pass as Dwight Howard struggled to cover the ground given up in the Lakers’ screens on the rocket’s backcourt.

But it was to no avail.

The Rockets missed their last-second chance and that was that. Who needs Kobe anyway?

• Flannery: Life in the NBA’s cellar

• Ziller: Barnes, not Klay, is the Warriors’ money problem

• MacKenzie: Mario Chalmers is Miami’s little brother

• The Hook: Knicks’ frontcourt is a tire fire

• Garrison: A new way to understand rebounding