It’s only early November, but no doubt Los Angeles Lakers fans were feeling a lot of satisfaction after the team beat Dwight Howard’s Houston Rockets 99-98 on the road Thursday night. And who needs Kobe Bryant in the lineup when you have Steve Blake?

Blake drilled a game-winning 3-pointer over Dwight to give the Lakers the lead and eventual victory. Houston had a defensive breakdown on the play, allowing Blake to get a wide open shot off a screen. He nailed it. Contrast that well-drawn up play to the team’s previous possession where they nearly threw the ball away on the inbounds pass and then had a broken play.

Blake had 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 4-6 on threes. Howard had 15 points and 14 rebounds, but he was 5-for-16 from the free throw line as the Lakers employed the hack-a-Dwight strategy to perfection at the end of the game.

Don’t worry, Rockets fans, you still have the better overall team.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Blake was fined $25,000 on Tuesday for berating a fan during Friday’s game against the Clippers. Both parties met on Tuesday to patch things up, and we also learned that the fan whom Blake cussed out is Lance Jackson, the son of L.A. Gear chairman Steve Jackson.

Blake was starting for the injured Steve Nash and had just 8 points on 2-for-6 shooting on Friday. According to ESPN LA, Jackson got on Blake for missing shots.

“You need to knock down those open shots,” the fan reportedly said.

Blake reportedly snapped back, and as we can tell in the video, he yelled at Jackson after fouling out.

“It’s an unfortunate misunderstanding and a heat-of-the-moment type of thing,” Blake said after practice Tuesday. “It’s one of those things I’m not proud of, the way I handled it, and I look forward to growing as a person and moving forward from it.”

Blake met with the Jacksons at the practice facility on Tuesday. Steve Jackson has a strong relationship with the team and has had courtside seats for many years. Many Lakers players have worked out at the gym in Jackson’s home (he has a replica Staples Center court), and visiting teams have even practiced there.

Blake says he apologized to the Jacksons and said he never had an outburst on a fan like that before.

Though he says the fan incident was a first, Blake has gotten into it on the court in the past. He fought with the Mavericks last year and, when he was in college, he once fought with a teammate. It seems like he’s just a hot head.