Lakers take edge off

The Lakers were on their best behavior -- no ejections, no technical fouls and hardly any trash-talking.

Oh, and they also played a pretty good game.

It was almost boring compared with the fireworks of Game 2, but the Lakers couldn’t care less, taking a methodical 108-94 decision over the Houston Rockets on a night where no one threw an elbow and nobody sprinted across the court to get in Kobe Bryant’s face.

With Derek Fisher watching Game 3 in his room at the team hotel and sending out messages via Twitter, the Lakers took a 2-1 series lead and regained the home-court advantage Friday at Toyota Center.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal is Sunday in Houston.

It didn’t end well for the Rockets, with Yao Ming limping off the court in the final minute because of a sore foot and Ron Artest getting ejected shortly thereafter, possibly because of a sore ego.

Artest shoved Pau Gasol as the Lakers’ center-forward moved in for a fastbreak layup or dunk with 43.6 seconds to play. In a now-familiar phrase for this series, the league will review the play today and determine if a suspension is necessary.

That the Lakers played well in Houston wasn’t overly surprising -- they were 5-2 here over the last four seasons -- but the Rockets figured to try to reassert themselves by clamping down defensively.

Instead, it was the Lakers who came up large on the defensive end, logging more steals than the Rockets (11-2) and more blocked shots (9-3). They also held the Rockets to 41.7% shooting while shooting 43.9% themselves.

Bryant didn’t shoot well, scoring 33 points on 11-for-28 shooting, though he made some important ones, starting with a 33-foot three-pointer to end the third quarter that gave the Lakers a 74-62 lead.

“We kind of finished the quarter off on the right way,” Bryant said, an obvious understatement.

Fisher, serving a one-game suspension for a flagrant foul on Houston forward Luis Scola, had the following reaction on Twitter: “Up 12 going to the 4th qtr on the road is a good place to be!”

He turned out to be correct.

The Lakers outscored the Rockets in the fourth quarter, 34-32, making 17 of 22 free-throw attempts.

Bryant’s three-pointer with one second left on the shot clock gave the Lakers a 95-84 lead with 2:21 to play, and a dunk by Lamar Odom (16 points, 13 rebounds) off a miss by Bryant pretty much sealed it, giving the Lakers a 97-86 lead with 1:22 to play.

In the final seconds, Bryant talked animatedly with courtside Rockets fans who presumably weren’t congratulating him on his game.

Afterward, as Yao limped to the bench in obvious pain with 52.5 seconds left, it looked like the Lakers had finally gained some traction in the series after throwing away the opener at home.

“There is nothing to say,” Scola said. “They played better and they deserved to win and that’s why they won.”

Yao had 19 points and initially injured his foot near the end of the second quarter. He aggravated it after stepping on players’ shoes two other times, he said.

“Right now, all I know is that my ankle’s sore,” he said.

Artest will be too if he misses Game 4, which will be up to NBA disciplinarian Stu Jackson.

Artest shoved Gasol in the chest and across his right arm with the Lakers ahead, 102-94. He was called for a flagrant foul 2 and ejected. Artest was also thrown out of Game 2 after running across the court and jawing at Bryant after the Lakers guard elbowed Artest while going for a rebound.

“I had a clear path to the rim and I attacked the basket, and someone knocked me down,” said Gasol, who had a quiet night with 13 points and six rebounds. “[Artest] got my head and it was a dangerous play at the end of the game, but things happen like that.”

Jordan Farmar played well in place of Fisher, collecting 12 points, seven assists and five rebounds in almost 33 minutes, enough for Lakers Coach Phil Jackson to say his game was “stellar.”

“Obviously, Fish will come back and claim his spot -- that’s the way it is -- and Jordan’s game will certainly be noted,” Jackson said.

Fisher, sending out one of his last electronic tweets of the night, might have said it best: “They responded like champions and that is what this is all about: winning a championship.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com